Letter to Insurance Company

[Dan B]

I have seen the same story published elsewhere in regards to many scenarios besides boating.

[Dan B]

Did he mention the color of the barrel? I think a blue one would fall faster.

[Catigale]

[richandlori]

[Chip Hindes]

The physics may be plausible; the story is not.

I saw the JATO Chevy on mythbusters, and I've seen most of the other mythbusters as well.

The first time I saw the pulley'weight story it was on the same email as the JATO Chevy. That's why I mentioned it. Obviously it's way older than I thought.

[RandyMoon]

My favorite Myth Busters episode was this..... if an elevator cable breaks, and the elevator drops like a rock, you are inside the elevator, if you jump upwards right before it hits the bottom, will you be OK?

Anyone who understands basic physics knows the outcome of the experiment, but it was fun to see these guys devise a method to test it out. SPLAT.

I'm thinking these guys could prove the Blue Hull theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

After receiving several PM's suggesting I re-check my calculations used in my previous post on this topic, I realized I made a mistake.
Pasquale's principal should only have been used if the barrel was school bus yellow.
Also too, his assistant principal.

[Beam's Reach]

Love Mythbusters! If I could do it all over again, that's the job I want! Build really cool stuff...and then destroy it!

I've been doing that for years anyway...but I usually get into trouble for it and I've never been paid for it.

[mike uk]

At my primary school aged about 8 or 9, our headmaster was one of those WW1 retired military types.

On rainy days when confined indoors, his idea of good entertainment was to play us his collection of marching songs on his 78s including "It's a Long Way to Tiperary" etc. For 9 year olds, this was fun for about 30 seconds.

On one such day, he came in with Hoffnung's "The Bricklayer" (on LP or maybe tape?). The whole school was rolling about with laughter. Happy days.

He also once played Stanley Holloways Pick up Thy Musket see here
but I never understood why Sam didnt just pick it up in the first place.

[Greg]

Macmythbuster:

We have a 50 gallon barrel on board that we sometimes use to carry spare water in for a long cruise.

Stored where, next to the walk in cooler?

Once the barrel broke it weighed less. Wouldnt this cause his fall since he would then weigh so much more than the barrel? Wouldnt it be about at the spreaders that hed meet the barrel again?

If a 450 pound barrel fell from the top of the mast, I don't think the barrel would be the thing that would break. It probably would go though the deck and continue down though the hull, thus sinking the boat and, depending on the depth, slowly lower the owner into the water.

More likely scenario:
According to the factory tape (IIRC), it takes 120 lbs to hold the top of the mast down to the water. Therefore, when the barrel was winched up, the top of the mast would have come down to the owner allowing him to change the bulb while standing on the dock.
But then that wouldn't be as funny... or would it ??

Greg

[ALX357]

joke doctors ..... or joke mechanics ??

[RandyMoon]

If a 450 pound barrel fell from the top of the mast, I don't think the barrel would be the thing that would break. It probably would go though the deck and continue down though the hull, thus sinking the boat and, depending on the depth, slowly lower the owner into the water.

Hey, with all the hurricane damaged boats available at a very good price, we ought to do a Myth Busters and see exactly what a 450 pound barrel would do. I'm with Greg, I think it would stress test the positive floatation capabilities to the max.