Buoyancy

[ansaman]

I have noticed that some of my splashed down craft start to sink rather alarmingly. Those of you who know aerospace history will recall that the Mercury capsule, "Liberty 7", sank nearly taking Gus Grissom to the bottom of the ocean with it (he later perished in the Apollo One fire.) 

Two questions:

Is there someplace I can find the buoyancy of individual parts?

Will someone make parts that will inflate and keep my Kerbals from drowning??

[Magzimum]

I think it's actually rather difficult to sink a craft. Most (all?) crew parts will float. Fuel tanks (especially when empty) will also float. You have to put a lot of metal (girders) onto a craft to make it sink in my experience. Adding ore tanks (full!) will also sink your craft.

Can you share a picture of a craft that sinks? Maybe we can identify the parts that aren't buoyant.

As far as I know the buoyancy of parts isn't listed anywhere.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Magzimum
Typos

[Dman979]

1 hour ago, ansaman said:

Is there someplace I can find the buoyancy of individual parts?

I don't know if you can find the buoyancy of each part, but if you know the volume and mass you can calculate it.

I don't know how you'd find the volume, though.

[Sharpy]

2 hours ago, ansaman said:

 

Is there someplace I can find the buoyancy of individual parts?

Will someone make parts that will inflate and keep my Kerbals from drowning??

1. AFAIK the Hooligan Labs Airships mod gives the total buoyancy of your craft; not sure what's the sinking threshold though; it's meant for floating in the air and not on water.

2. In stock you can use the inflatable heatshield, it has enormous buoyancy. If you want a better form factor, this adds inflatable floats.

 

SXT also adds inflatable airbags.