V Twin

Originally posted by olly_love i wouldnt as they have little holes in, and if one of your halyards wears through them then you have lots of little water storage areas, so it will never drain

Tougher balls and smaller balls, loosely packed should stop them being damaged by halyard tension and mast bend

http://www.theppb.co.uk/play.htm

Originally posted by olly_love but sealing the mast is the first step id say,

I agree. It has to be the first step.  Well not necessarily sealing, if too difficult, but stuff full of those small polystyrene packing pieces. Then wrap perhaps up to 10mm thickness of that black foam rubber  down to the hounds.
On the prototype AltO which used the FiveO hull with the very buoyant side tanks (Thus prone to turtle), both were used. It definitely helped, but it was taking considerable volume out of the side tanks in the AltO hull design which of course made the big difference and now without the buoyant top mast or foam, the AltO very rarely turtles.  The mast buoyancy alone unless with the addition of a large mast bag will not be sufficient, so buoyancy on the side frames is a must.
More coffee!

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by G.R.F. Sealing the mast, how do you lot do that with all those holes in it? Quite a few classes run external halyards, especially in a single sail boat, usually (probably essential) with a cleat at the top of the mast so that the sail doesn't drop as the mast bends. Offends my sense of neatness though. I also have some doubts as to whether the amount of buoyancy in a small mast will be sufficient to make much difference in this application.

who gives a toss if it doesn't look neat if it prevents you from going turtle.

my phantom has a sealed mast and it doesn't look untidy. I have a nice red halyard that shows up against the black of the carbon...matches grf's colour scheme a treat.

all the other attachments are done with plates rivetted on rather than holes in the mast. seems to have lasted over the years.

foam would just end up absorbing water after a couple of capsizes and makes things about 100 times worse than it is. (editted as seen Ollys post and realised he was right about the ping pong balls).

you need to seal the mast covering up every hole and rivet plate attachments on. only successful way I reckon

Edited by maxibuddah - 24 Apr 12 at 10:40am

Originally posted by BenG Filling the mast with table tennis balls is one way I've seen, it allows the halyards to still run internally.

Originally posted by G.R.F. Sealing the mast, how do you lot do that with all those holes in it?

Quite a few classes run external halyards, especially in a single sail boat, usually (probably essential) with a cleat at the top of the mast so that the sail doesn't drop as the mast bends. Offends my sense of neatness though. I also have some doubts as to whether the amount of buoyancy in a small mast will be sufficient to make much difference in this application.