The advise on the forum is that the large bow buoyancy bag that's supposed to be under the foredeck on a Storm 17 is annoying and not strictly necessary.
I took mine out because it is annoying, and gets in the way of storing oars and long things and I have been sailing like that for the last 5 years.
I decided to do some capsizing last weekend as I have just started to do more single handed sailing in open water and I wanted to see how the boat behaves.
In a 90 degree capsize she behaved really well and came up with water a couple of inches below the level of the seats... no drama.
So I decided to see what happened if I inverted her... she still came up easily but was fully swamped, I thought she was going to sink, the bow was at water level and the stern was only a couple of inches higher! Fortunately I was only on a lake, had I been in the kind of conditions where I would be likely to capsize then I would have been a case for the lifeboat.
Much, much bailing!
Needless to say I have put the buoyancy bag back in and will be carrying shorter oars.
I also discovered that there isn't anywhere to grab hold of to pull yourself back into the boat, I ended up using the samson post and slithering in over the foredeck but I will now also be installing some grab handles inside the cockpit.
And my inspection hatches also leaked!
I'm glad I did this under controlled conditions.
