wrote:
Jeff wrote:
...
Actually, its fairly easy to add flotation to a small boat.
...

Do you know of any larger sailboat (over 40') with built-in solid
floatation ?

Most catamarans have enough buoyancy to be considered unsinkable.
Mine has 6 "flotation chambers" scattered around the hull. Plus the
geometry means that only only hull is likely to be breached. There
are cases of cats sailed back to the dock with large holes in one hull
and the water is only up to the floorboards.

In addition, many large boats have collision bulkheads that mean that
a large hole in one part of the boat might not take it down.

Or, you could get an Etap:
http://www.etapyachting.com/index.cf...ng&Part=Yachts

Doesn't it make even more sense to have this in larger
boats (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars) than in a $20,000
boat which doesn't carry much of our belongings ?

Hmmm. I might think the lives of those in small boats are worth as
much as those in large boats.

Small boats need flotation more than large because they have so much
less reserve buoyancy. A leak that would take hours to sink a large
boat, and might even be controlled by large pumps, could sink a small
boat in minutes.


Even if we're careful and only sail in good weather, there's always
a possibility of a collision such as when somebody else doesn't have
their lights on.

There are lots of possibilities out there. But most sinkings happen
at the dock.