Does a sealed deck mean a boat wont sink if it gets a hole in the hull?
A. Most likely the boat will sink. When the bottom of a boat is damaged the deck effectively becomes the new bottom. Most people think that if the deck is sealed then the boat wont sink. That is only the case if water can not get onto the top of the deck. If your boat has freeing ports, scuppers, a transom door, a floodable kill tank, or a tank hatch that’s not water tight then water can get onto the deck and it will most likely sink. Of course if it has floatation or water tight compartments then this is less likely but most recreational boats don’t have them. The good news for aluminium boat owners is that aluminium is a ductile material meaning that it is more likely to bend or deform upon impact rather than crack or shatter like brittle materials. For boats without freeing ports & scuppers, while they may be safer if damaged, they are far less safe if swamped by a wave. If the water cant escape from the deck area then the boat will roll over due to the “free surface moment”. The ch
