Sinking!

We received our Manufacturers ID from the Coast Guard awhile back.
Our ID is "SEA", awesome.
Any builder of boats has to register with the Coast Guard and meet regulations for safety.
On our application we listed the Mississippi River Skiff as one of our models.  We have since decided to move on to the next design and not produce additional hulls of the MRS.

The de-watering with a submersible sump

Filler up!

But the Coast Guard, now under the auspices of Homeland Security called and wanted us to certify that the MRS meets regulations.
To do this there are calculations that need to be done.  They all start with the maximum capacity of the craft.  This is the weight that sinks the boat to the shear line.

  

To do this we hauled the skiff over to the pool at the house of our friends the Walters.  We shot a video of the whole sinking that we were going to compress into a high-speed clip. Unfortunatly the battery died and corrupted the file.
We did have a successful sinking.  The skiff stayed in trim and evenly sank to its shear line until water spilled in and out but would sink no further.
There are no floatation compartments.  It is simply built of wood encapsulated in a glass/epoxy skin.
It took 72 minutes at a flow rate of 6.451 gpm.
This equals 464.472 gallons.
At 8.33 pounds per gallon, the maximum capacity is 3,869.052 pounds!
We will tackle the rest of the Coast Guard calculations tonight.