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Airboxes on the ends of the hull

Airboxes on the ends is a very popular method for providing emergency floatation. The reason is because they are just so easy to make and install. The boat already has sides and transoms, so you simply make 2 bulkheads, and deck over -- presto a pair of airboxes.

With the boat on it's side, you can see she floats with most of the hull out of the water.

To get her back upright, you can start at the bow and walk your hands along the gunnel till the boat comes back upright. Another option would be to toss a line over the middle and pull on that instead, or stand on the leeboard.

As the boat comes upright, you can see that some water will stay in the hull, but not nearly as bad as if there were no airboxes.

Climbing over the stern is more challenging than you would think. At this point, I had pulled the boat out into water deep enough that I could not touch the bottom.

To assist me getting back in, I tied between the two stern cleats to make something I could step on, and it worked good.

With all the water inside the boat, it is not very stable.

My bailer is a chlorox bottle that has the bottom cut off to form a scoop. I have timed myself before with a bailer like this, and it can bail 30 gallons per minute.