I debated about even posting this and sounding like a fool, but here goes:
With all the possibility of flooding to the point of evacuating why is it you don't see bathtubs being pulled out of homes to use as a sort of life raft. I'm talking about one person or a child or two and maybe a little something in the way of supplies, not as a lifeboat for 20.

I searched the net and ETS and only found 1 very vague reference on the net having to do with a marine accident where the survivors used a bathtub because the ship had no liferafts. No info as to if they were in it or just swimming along clinging to it. Tubs are the obvious water storage but if the tub is underwater, or about to be, why not pull it out, plug the hole(s), and climb in? It seems like something that could be done with just a few tools and a little time.

Maybe people do it all the time and I just couldn't find it? I'm not suggesting anyone stick around in a flood when they should evac but if you find yourself needing to escape "on foot" in deep water would this be a possible alternative?

hmmm...yeah, bathtubs are really heavy...

So is water, though...

I've never thought of this before. I'm not gonna throw a bathtub in my BOB, but you never know when you might get stuck in a flood with no boat. Lol!

How would you plug the hole well? Most of the things I can think try to hold water in... Maybe a towel stuffed in tight would hold better than I imagine.

I suppose it's possible, depending on the tub, but it's not very practical.

You can pick up an inflatable boat at wal-mart for like $20 though... it won't quite fit in a backpack but it packs quite a bit smaller than a tub

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1170678
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1170680

The sevylor trail boat might be a good smaller one man boat for this.

or spend the bigger bucks and get an alpacka raft.

If you don't have too much place in your flat to store a boat, try this folding kayak

Strikes me as heavy, hard to propel and difficult to get out of the house --

alternatives:

build a brush raft See

brush raft instructions

get four truck innertubes and some wood:

four tube raft

or drink some soda;

2 liter bottles and duct tape raft

I am reminded of an old illustration. Oddyseus is clinging to a wooden raft while Posiedon tosses him about the sea. Now Old Oddyseus was something of a sailor but still looked rather uncomfortable. A flooded area is one of the most dangerous waters to travel. You have uncharted hazards to navigation both submerged and afloat, new and changing currents, spilled toxins and fuels waiting to ignite. And into this somebody wants to launch a bathtub, designed to HOLD water and not displace it in a manner pleasing to a naval architect sailing his Concordia. being in a flood is no different than being lost. You need to secure a safe place and wait for rescue. If you must water-bug out, do so with a proper small boat.

I have owned a bunch of homes, and lived in more apartments than I care to remember, and I have never had a tub that was not built in. Kinda hard to float away in one of those, and if you could, it would probably list to one side badly...

I agree on flood water being dangerous, with all sorts of things in it, which is what put me off the idea of inflatables. I think the scenario I had in mind was flooding came sooner than expected and it was necessary to swim for it. Being out of the water would protect me from debris, any contaminates etc, help fight hypothermia, and I guess if I covered the top it would provide a shelter of sorts.

I think the drain hole could be plugged by cutting a large piece of foam from furniture, wrapping it well in plastic wrap and squeezing it tightly through the drain hole. Some tubs are heavy but, I have seen the fiberglass ones installed and they are just sort of setting there with caulk around them so ripping one out looks simple enough. Maybe quality tubs are better installed. Apartment dwellers don't have lots of storage space. If I had to squeeze a boat in mine I'd have to flip it upside down and disguise it as a coffee table.

I'm not suggesting doing something risky and possibly fatal when all you have to do is wait for rescue but if the waters rising fast and you have to rescue yourself- maybe useful.

I liked the kayak since kayaks are designed to move around ice it should move around debris, (inflatable) but I think the bush raft would be a good option-easy to build and easy on the wallet.

There's a place called VJ's Bargain Barn that I pass about once every week or two. It has fiberglass tubs in the yard, so I see how they're made. They are NOT made to float.

Most of them are designed to fit in a tub-sized, walled enclosure. Both ends and the long side that fits against the wall just have lips to caulk to the walls. The front edge comes out and then goes down to the floor. So, you've got three short edges, and one that may hold air, and throw the thing off-balance. IOW, they look monumentally unstable to be on the wrong side of water. I think some also have air vents to help them drain.

They're rectangular on the outside, not what you'd call streamlined. I've paddled canoes that were kind of hard to paddle, and I'm sure they are tons better than a bathtub.

Now, an old-fashioned, claw-foot, free-standing bathtub, maybe. Its sort of like a boat. Kinda-sorta.

But you'd still need an awfully good plug.

I'd say an inner tube would be better. Not good, but more maneuverable. And you wouldn't have to detach it from plumbing.

If you're likely to have water problems like that, you'd best plan ahead.

Sue

I wonder how well a door, easily removed by pulling the hinge pins, would work as an emergency floating device? Hard to paddle around of course, and you are gonna get wet, but one MIGHT keep one afloat long enough to be rescued. Probably better than treading water...

I remember watching some History Channel program on the sinking of the Titanic quite a while ago. The program was about "what if's" if I remember correctly. Anyway, one idea that came out was that many more people could've been saved if the captain had used the thousands of doors that the Titanic had since there weren't enough life boats for everyone but they did have the luxury of time.

Set up some sort of containment ring on the ocean surface...I forget how they suggested it...then throw as many doors as possible into the ring to create a rudimentary floating platform. Not as good as a proper boat, of course, but it does seem to provide buoyancy and helps keep more of your body out of the frigid ocean water. Don't know how feasible this idea really is in real life, but you're not the first person to wonder if doors could be useful in this capacity.

"...you're not the first person to wonder..."

No surprises there...

So... does anyone have a swimming pool and an old door?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Sue

You need to check out Clive Cussler's book, "Cyclops". The protagonist, Dirk Pitt, uses a bathtub to escape the evil doers in Cuba and sails to the Florida Keys.

Adventurist pulp fiction, but very entertaining!

At the risk of hijacking this thing, I read (actually, struggled thru) one of the Pitt adventures, and that was more than I can take. Superhero types have never been my cup of coffee...

Vancouver bathtub race apparently it is done, with some modifications, as a racing tub with a motor. I believe with a little quick effort it could work in an emergency.

After I did a search on Bathtub Racing, I discovered it is done in lot of places around the world.

"...with some modifications..."

With SOME mods??? Judging from the pics, I think that you would have to start working on THOSE modifications well in advance of the emergency. I think you would be better off with a Jon boat coffee table...

Use that inflatable mattress you may have for an extra bed.

How about a kitchen table?



Cheers,

Tom A.

My choice of floating bathtub would have to be this model:



As you can see, once the flood waters recede, you can motor this little beauty through the drive-thru and pick up dinner!


Or, (on a somewhat more serious note), you may want to look into something like this:



While not technically a bathtub, this 5'4" long boat was sailed successfully from New Foundland to England back in 1993.

Why do the heros of adventure stories always have names like Dirk Pitt? How come they're never named Irving Schmidlapp?

Now THAT one has some possibilities!!!

Is Irving the cousin of Otto Schmidlapp???

(this is a test of really old time TV watchers)

Now that has potential:)!