Snip

: I was recently reading a particularly intense site online about side
: flotation devices and their usefulness (or rather the "criminal
: intent" of not making laws that forces them), i more or less
: dismissed it, partially because the tone of the whole thing was getting
: heavy (maybe the author was involved in something that happened and so it
: can be understandable), but, in the back of my mind, i was toying with the
: idea of incorporating them in the design of an hull, as much as an airbag
: is incorporated in the design of a car interior. It was at the very bottom
: of a long list of "maybe when i have time", after reading the
: article it changed position.

Hi Acors,
Sorry for hijacking the thread.
I don't get the idea or reasoning behind this side flotation. If it's internal, wouldn't the use of bulkheads in hard-shells and airbags in SoF's eliminate any need for side flotation?
If it's external, giving the hull more flair would do the same, yes?

As for legislating them into use, I recall when the EU Small Craft Directive first came out, maybe ten years ago, where all small craft would "be required to carry a life raft suitable for the number of persons for which the craft is designed." It would have applied to kayaks as well as one-man dinghy's, and to my knowledge thare are no liferafts designed for one person on the open market.
The Directive was modified.

Mike Savage
South West Cork