Air bags / buoyancy bags

WillyMcLaser

New Member
I just acquired an old laser (PFS148270474). It has air bags in the bow that are torn. Are they needed to insure the boat doesn't sink? If so, where would I find replacements?
 
What you need are called cubitainers. They ensure positive floatation and can be purchased at Intensity Sails or APS. Both are sponsors of this website and are great to buy from.
 
The Optimist buoyancy bags work the best. Kept my boat from sinking after I creamed a rock. Sailed the boat 10 miles with water up to the gunwales. I had 7 of those in my L2. Poor boat, she sleeps with the trash now.
 
The Optimist buoyancy bags work the best. Kept my boat from sinking after I creamed a rock. Sailed the boat 10 miles with water up to the gunwales. I had 7 of those in my L2. Poor boat, she sleeps with the trash now.
What you need are called cubitainers. They ensure positive floatation and can be purchased at Intensity Sails or APS. Both are sponsors of this website and are great to buy from.
I'm about to buy 3x10l and 3x20l from infinity sail as they recommend for the laser.
 
I'm thinking of also replacing my old foam blocks with the bags,I'm sure being so old its probably saturated with water. To remove the old blocks, just simply break / cut it into small enough pieces to pull out of the inspection port?
 
That's what I did. It was a bit of work. There were lots of small bits to vacuum out. I had to remove some of the foam in my boat in order to do a repair.

Be aware that the bags can eventually wear through if they slide around enough inside the hull. They are easy to replace, though.
 
Have you had a pair wear through? We talking like two or three years to wear through or like 10 to 15 years to wear. I'm just debating of its worth the $150 ish.
 
Not being the original owner of the boat I can't be certain, but it think they were never replaced. That makes them 30 years old. Judging by how beat up and neglected that boat was, I doubt the previous owner gave any thought to replacing the buoyancy. Only one of the bags had failed and it's hole was small enough that it still likely would provide floatation for awhile. It's my other, even older, (#555) Laser from which I removed the foam.

If I remember correctly the foam blocks each had a thin plastic bag around them, presumably to keep water away from the foam. This had been worn through, as it was much thinner than the cubitainers. But that's not surprising for an almost 40 year old boat.
 
When I pulled the black plastic bag up which holdes the foam there were some worn through spots also. I think I'll probably go ahead and change them over once it warms up a bit.
 

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