Not a bad idea with using floatation instaed of weight. Sounds a little tricky though. I've been told that making the same plug, trimmed the same way out of different types of wood has drastic effects on the way the plug will behave. If you build a plug out of a dense wood and it performs one way and then you build the same one out of a lighter wood it will have a drastically different behavior. This is true even if they weigh the same when they're done. It makes sense, the weight distribution is different in each case.
Don't forget this either, the amount of water the plug displaces (mass for a given volume) will determine how high out of the water it will float. So, if you take the weight out of a plug it will sit higher out of the water (less total displacement required). If the CG and CB are not coincident it will make the plug sit at an angle while floating. Look up some info on buoyant forces and displacement much like how a boat sits in the water. I won't try to explain it here. It would get really boring really fast. A good fundamental understanding of physics can help you with just about anything though.
Glad you guys are enjoying my ramblings. It would be good to get some input from someone who's been building for a while here though.  |