I am trying to see what options there are for a mast top float for my Nacra 5.8 and what anyone's experience with these might be. I am finding myself single handing more while day sailing and getting older it seems like maybe a "Hobie-Bob" type float might be good insurance. I haven't tried righting it by myself (5'9" 185 lbs.) but I can see where it will be an effort.

Thanks in advance,

Rusty
sail2win2004@hotmail.com

Just a thought. Try to find some of the milk bottles with screw on lids. Tie them to the top of the mast. Should work and a lot cheaper than bay Bob.

Doug

This is a good idea too..
[img]http://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/jm/img?s=MLM&f=11078487_9431.jpg&v=P[/img]

Wouldn't the weight of this fellow (even without the ball player) keep you from righting?

I think it's worth a few minutes to ensure that your mast is sealed well. There are more than a few threads already on that topic if you do a search. If it is sealed, the Bob shouldn't be required. RIGHT GUYS?
Greg

If it were me, I would opt for flotation pads sewn onto the top of my sail. Could add a pocket in the head of the sail that is not very large that could have foam of lifejacket foam material inserted in it. Hobie bobs look silly imo.

Oh Oh. Now you've done it!!!

INCOMING!

Okay, here I am. If people won't accept bobs for safety reasons, why don't we make them indispensable as fashion statements? We can decorate them for all the holidays -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, etc. And in between holidays, we can have decorating contests with themes. The possibilities are endless!

It will get to the point where people will be embarrassed not to have a decorated bob atop their mast.

Bob for President!!

Go to the local Hardware Seed supply Depot, go down to the first aisle grab a can of closed cell expanding foam. Now head on over to the rakes,stop look left, up, over, that's it get the big bird scarey garden owl,no the bigger one,Yes.Now at home on the dining room table give the owl a good enema with the foam. When it dries if you showed the owl no mercy it will be 3 times the size as the original. And there you have it the new "WHOOBIE CAT" mast docker. Fire a couple of 10p nails into her and set your sights on some carefree sailing. You can upgrade to the spinning weathervane head with nightlight eyes for safety. Whooo hooo! Man We got it all in Delray .

Good idea!

I LOVE it! It might keep pigeons from landing on top of the mast.

That picture's the bomb . Mary I actually was in a sports store that was alas going out of business after 50 or so years in Palm Beach ,He had the owls and ravens in a few boxes on the floor ,I went back after I had the idea I really considered this just as you said for the other gulls and stuff that are usually around the boats.But they were sold out. So the all in one Super Whoobie Magnum Swiss owl model will 1.Be able to assist in righting your cat. 2.WeatherVane head for Apparent wind. 3.Night time sensor eyeballs. Optional . Speakermounted reciever/broadcaster/GPS(Turn right in .05 miles).............. What category in Catsailor store should we place this in or should I go right to QVC shopping network?

I agree.

GARY

Some people might be so embarrased to have a bobber on the top of the mast that they will adorn them with those stickers that make it look like it's got bullet holes shot through it.

Then they can say that they don't really need a bobber but it is just there to join in on the holiday decorating contest.

OK, My plan for my Hobie 18 is to run a small dia line through the mast head plate and before tieing to the upper batten grommets on each side I will add a piece of swim noodle. You can remove them easily for racing and have something for singlehandling.

There are probably 5-10 threads already on this topic. If your mast is properly sealed you don’t need the float. The boat will come right back up from turtle (if it ever turtles) by sitting on the back of the leeward hull. In fact, the increased weight aloft will actually make you more likely to capsize.

The only argument that I can see is that if you got tangled in lines as you went over a mast float might keep the boat from turtling. I have liked a couple ideas from the past. Like, sewing heavy duty Velcro to the top of your sail and Velcro a foam piece to that when you want the mast float.

I have heard of boats with wings having trouble coming up from turtle. In that case there used to be a product that had a heavy duty balloon at the end of a hose which was attached to a co2 cartage. This might be nice to have if you are on the big ocean or lake with no one to help you.

Of course you could just buy the mega bob. Many people on this forum have done that. I know Jim Hoying did it on his P18.

Hope this helps,

Matt

I have a line that runs to a hound for a spi that I am not using what if you were to be able to connect your righting line to the spi halyard . Would'nt this pulling arc double your righting moment because your pulling so close to the top of the mast as if somone were in a boat and lifted your mast for you.

Nooooop. Re-read your Statics & Dynamics textbook. Your arrangement adds ZERO to the righting moment. Without trying to draw diagrams in ASCII chars to explain the summation of torques, suffice it to say that since the line passes over the windward (upper) hull's gunwale/gunnel, it doesn't really matter if it's tied to the mast-foot, the masthead, the shroud attach point on the leeward hull, or the shroud attach point right above your head on the windward hull--all equivalent.

Now if you had a windlass-pole, running at a 45-deg angle from the lee hull, that allowed you to hang out in mid-air, beyond the (nearly) vertical plane of the capsized hulls, THAT would increase your righting torque.

Thanx now my friggen head hurts! So right now the best thing going for the bigger boats(as wide or wider than 8'6") is the solo-right style under the tramp poles . I've been out a few times and seen boats that were having trouble do to the lack of crew or the fact that they are taking on water and I have been solo.Not wanting to get off my boat I would sail back and get somebody or hopefully somone else with crew would come to there aid. I suppose I could tie my boat off to the cat in need and then help but sometimes the two boats end up colliding in rough water and the rescuers boat can get blown over cause they are not on it.There are few options.Would it be possible to sail to the mast tip and pick it up maybe with loop of rope or a something ring shaped to help get it going. Justing thinking again,Uh oh ! We had a situation the other day, a boat far offshor and drifting north went over to Sea Tows delight (sort of) to the tune of 400.00 schakles the P15 had a P16 rig on it and was taking on water the skipper could'nt right it and it was becoming heavier to the point when assistance finally showed up the boat would not stay righted until it was successfully under way by a bigger Sea tow vessel. Sea Tow brought the boat in but only to the outside break about 150 yards off shore.Now the rescue boat was an inflatible and the swells were manageable and he had enough line to get it in and get back away from the beach but would'nt for whatever reason. Which left a very tippy p15 trying to sail into an onshore wind. At this point we rounded up all the rope possible and grabbed an abandoned windsurfer board(which I recommend highly to have sitting around loose if possible for these instances) and swam the line as far as it would go .Which was'nt enough apparently to the cat and somone on shore ready to give it a tug .I tied the line up to the bridle and a paddled into swells which was as far as I could go and used wave power to pull the boat in until I could comfortably stand. In retrospect they probably should have dropped the rig but think there thought was that the skipper was going to still sail the boat into the beach.We pulled the boat in sail up and all and righted it on the beach parked it and hav'nt seen the skipper since.The End...........Bob G.