BYYB Forums

I came across this and I was thinking that something along these lines would add add flotation to Weekender without sacrificing interior space and might even produce a limited self righting ability.

These sponsons are the type on a sportspal canoe and would fit nicely between the 2 rubrails on the weekender.
Here they are shown on a solar boat. A 9' long by 4" high set adds about 45 lbs flotation, so a double set on weekender as on the solar boat would add 90 lbs flotation. Lots of space saved in the boat with this idea.
These sponsons are available from Sailboats to go. $69.00

Those foam half tubes don't offer much floatation, for their volume and not much assistance with stability, if called upon on a gusty day. They will create a lot of drag if immersed and in my mind, will ugly up the exterior of the boat too. On a canoe, it might offer a novice paddler some comfort, but on a Weekender, the volume they offer, just isn't even close enough to warrant using them. Now an inflatable tube might be possible, but you'd need a lot of volume and putting "training wheels" on a Weekender will look odd to say the least. Maybe as a safety feature, as the new sailor learns about the boat?

These are dingy dogs. They are not permanently on a boat. I think they would be good to carry when extra security is desired EG: a long crossing, or the weather has turned for the worst.
my idea is to have maximum flotation, but keep it outside the boat for more interior space.

A pair of inflatable beach rollers might give you the volume needed to keep you up, but like Paul says, they won't do the look of the boat any favors.  However, they would add some stability to the boat when it is  beached.  Also you could tie them together and make a nice raft to bob around and drink beer. 

Al

Again, on a small boat, like an 8' dink that weighs very little, these bags can offer something, though as the boat size goes up, the floatation requirement goes up "squared", not proportionally.

I got the idea from a weekender video I saw last year but can't find. It showed a weekender somewhere in Eastern Europe, or Russia, in very rough seas. The sides at the gunwales seemed to be very built up with flotation of some sort.
When the boat was brought back to the dock to load on the trailer it was obviously much heavier and bulky looking than the average Weekender.
I've been sailing my boat for 5 years, but I still hesitate to do a 3-5 mile open water crossing. I'm very conservative about safety.

You should be conservative anytime you're farther from shore, than you can swim back to. Complaincy has taken way too many. Weekender is a protected waters boat, so only very seasoned skippers should venture into open water and even with this, they'll know when to try and when not, because (again) it's a protected water boat. A skipper that's been scared a few times will usually bring the boat home safely, while a novice (who doesn't know any better) or an over confident sailor, will find themselves in a hole they can't get out of. Simply put, stay conservative, you'll live longer.

Paul, That's exactly my thinking.
I wear a dry suit for cold winter water sailing and if I attempted a crossing such as where I am now, in either Weekender or my Vacationer, across the Neuse River, Oriental to Beaufort, NC, I would make sure to have an escort with a more capable boat - just in case.........

Speaking from experience, Weekender floats pretty high when flooded if you have at least the forward compartment, the lazarette, and at least half of the cockpit seats sealed.  When I tested mine, I took her over 4 times in total.  Each time she went turtle right away, but floated quite high until I set her right again.  On the last go I let her flood until she settled out and she floated on her side less than half in the water.  At this point, she was pretty stable.  When I got her up for the last time her lower rub rail was out of the water. 

None of the times I stood her up by myself was difficult.  I simply stood on the forward part of the keel and up she popped.  Climbing back in over the side was another matter.  If I had been in a wind such that I could keep the boom and mainsail on the opposite side of the boat, I could have gotten back in without the  boom swinging over my head and queering the whole deal.  I think I might have been better off climbing over the transom. 

Anyway, you can self rescue a weekender, but I wouldn't want to do it every day nor in really rough water.  Oh yeah, that dry suit is a really good idea.  I sail in mine until June.

Al