capsized boat; how to flip it?

[Blurplegirl]

seriously... the waves weren't that big and the boat became quite unstable... I've been playing for awhile and gee seriously... I have been on real boats and this is nothing like the real thing even if its Alpha I don't expect real physics but I don't expect an idiotic starter boat to flip flop then flip over on its own with nothing to cause it to do that even while under power unless turning really sharply which wasn't the case.

[Danikov]

The starter boat just isn't that great, it's meant to give you an idea how to wire things up and a starting point on your own creations, but it's only good for calm waters. If the starting boat was able to handle all sorts of weather, where would the challenge be?

First tip is if you go on the map, hover over your boat, there will be an option to return it to the workshop. Doesn't help with finishing missions, but does mean you can recover a capsized vessel and all the parts used.

Second tip is build your vessels to be more stable. With the starter boat you might try some outriggers or a small keel. There are also a small and medium starter hull for making larger vessels of your own design.; larger boats are inherently more stable unless very poorly designed, add some weight to the bottom to keep the center of gravity low if you're struggling (the blocks with dots on them).

[firemane (Lex)]

All the "examples" as well as the boats used by NPC's have flat bottoms. That makes for as high center of mass and that makes them easy to overturn. Also, with so much surface touching the water you end up braking yourself and pushing the hull out of the water, which is fatal on rough seas.

Apart from the Outriggers Danilov mentions, you can consider wide base boats, or multiple hull designs like pontoons. Stabilizers projecting down from the hull (Sailboat style) are also a great way to make a boat instantly stable, though they add to your total draft.

Another important aspect is to lock a portion of the volume as a sealed compartment and place the ballast correctly. Lower the center of mass by adding ballast (those 10 weight blocks) and balance the boat properly. In narrow hulls you can get it to the point where a tug on a handle will bring the boat around right-side-up. In wide hulls proper ballast makes them very hard to overturn.

Think about a lever with the center of mass as the fulcrum. You can make a boat stable by adding weight t one side of the lever, or by making the lever longer.

Try this one for example... FirstDayWorkhorse

[Blurplegirl]

I don't even know where to get a starter medium or large hull

mind you this was in calm waters; I had already completed 3 missions with absolutely no stability issues until the 4th mission and again the water was very calm and it still capsized ;)

I'm not good with designing this kind of stuff so I should look into getting one from the workshop :)

[Blurplegirl]

so I checked out a couple of good boats on the workshop and it talked about wind; how do you know where the wind direction is?

[RedParadize]

There is two main way to achieve stability. Center of mass and the shape.

Given the nature of boats and the fact that you need all of stuff to be out of water. Lowering mass center usually imply ballast, in fact if you manage to have it under center of buoyancy you will end up with a self righting ship. The problem with that is that ballast will reduce the overall performance of you ship. Like Speed carrying capacity and total buoyancy.

About the shape, there is many of them, with different property. For example, large ship with flat bottom usually gave allot of buoyancy on the sides of its center of mass. That make them roll less in calm sea but potentially more in rough one as they will react to water slope. Generally you can achieve good stability with flat bottom without much ballast, thus potentially have better performance. But be aware that if you end up capsized the flatness will work against you just as well.

I also need to point out that what's best depend on what you want to achieve. Do you want to carry allot or do you want speed? Or maybe a trade off of both? If you take the logic of ballast to its extreme, you will end up with what we call a "displacement hull" most cargo ship are like that. Now if you want speed, there is what we call "planing hull"...

[firemane (Lex)]

Wind direction: Look at the sky and the sea. Foamy sea, wave height and directions, and movement on the clouds will tell you about wind direction and rough speed.

Later in the game you'll come across a wind direction sensor that can be asessed visually or by reporting to a screen.

RedParadise: Ballast can also increase the performance and will surely increase the stability of your ship. It is a neccessity, but you need to play with it until you get the right amount on the right places.

[RedParadize]

Ballast are not a necessity. I have ship that do not have any. But I would say that most case scenario it is good to have some. Personally, I add the strict minimum of it and see it as the last resource, I like my stuff to be as fast as they possibly can be.

Most of my ship have moving ballast and the next one I am working on will have water ballast, when emptied I have hope that it will have no heavy block at all in it. Maybe very few.