Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

[SolingSailor]

Just a newbie, but I've heard that some boats will actually float and sail in fresh water.
I can't imagine how that is possible, as it is difficult enough in the ocean.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Why wouldn't boats float and sail in fresh water?

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

I've heard that there is less buoyancy in fresh water.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

I've heard that there is less buoyancy in fresh water.

... don't tell the companies in the barge systems in the Southeast please. That'd be a lot of guys outta' work

 

[matt167]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Salt decreases the surface tension in water, so theoretically LESS buoyancy in the ocean than fresh water... But boats still float in either anyway.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

I've heard that there is less buoyancy in fresh water.

62.4 lbs/cubic foot in fresh water . . . about 64 lbs/cubic foot in salt water. so, it is a few % difference.

You don't really believe that boats sink in fresh water, but float in salt water?

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Well, out here we don't actually have any fresh water, so it's a myth that somewhere there are boats which will float in that.
Seems kinda unnatural though...

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Salt decreases the surface tension in water, so theoretically LESS buoyancy in the ocean than fresh water... But boats still float in either anyway.

Buoyancy has to do with density . . . salt water is more dense.

Seawater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

So, out here on the Pacific, I'm actually more buoyant, with less tension?
Anyone wanna go for a sail?

 

[Capt Sully]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Hey SolingSailor, if you take that boat out of saltwater and try to put it in freshwater, well then it will sink.:loco::loco:

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Never been in salt but my boat is always floating. If it isn't I really have problems.

LK

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Hey SolingSailor, if you take that boat out of saltwater and try to put it in freshwater, well then it will sink.:loco::loco:

See, that's what I was thinkin'. But what about where Alwhite00 is? I'll bet his water gets really hard about December or January every year.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

See, that's what I was thinkin'. But what about where Alwhite00 is? I'll bet his water gets really hard about December or January every year.

It is also about 8% less dense during that time of year.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

I can tell you that boats float in salt, fresh, and brackish water. its the mud and shoals that are hard on a boat.

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

I can tell you that boats float in salt, fresh, and brackish water. its the mud and shoals that are hard on a boat.

Yes, I tried to sail in sand a few years back. Luckily, at the time they were filling the ocean, rather than draining it, as they do twice a day around here. So I was able to get back to soft water in about 15 minutes. On the positive side, the sand really cleaned off the biology experiment I was growing on the bottom foot or so of my keel. Then later the Army Corps replaced the sand with more salt water -- much better!!:joyous:

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

See, that's what I was thinkin'. But what about where Alwhite00 is? I'll bet his water gets really hard about December or January every year.

Come january i can just leave it on the trailer & go to my favorite spots.

LK

 

[belairbrian]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Seems boats sink in saltwater.
lets see:
Titanic
Britanic
Bismark

Most sunken ships I dive are in saltwater.

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Seems boats sink in saltwater.
lets see:
Titanic
Britanic
Bismark

Most sunken ships I dive are in saltwater.

You gotta point there, judge. :lol:

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Great Lakes have swallowed many many ships as well.

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Do Boats Really Float in Fresh Water?

Yes, we remember the Edmund Fitzgerald, lost just as I was leaving Buffalo, and enshrined in Gordon Lightfoot's song.
And then also there is Stan Roger's song "White Squall." Stan was a great musician, and a terrible loss to us as well.