Boat Leaning

[kartracer]

Boat has a lean to the port, PO has all tanks on port side. what material and how should I fix this without redoing tanks.

 

[O C Diver]

I had a similar problem with a lean to port. I took about 500 pounds of lead plates and mounted them against the starboard hull above the saloon floor. Prior to doing that. I would trim the boat with fuel by keeping more fuel in the starboard tank than in the port tank.

Tef

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. k. Since the amount of fuel goes up and down, whatever counter ballast you might want to put on the starboard side should be adjustable. Another fuel tank perhaps? Water tanks? Larger friends?

One other possible alternative IF you have the space is move some of your heavier objects (batteries, tools) that you may have on the port side more toward the center line. This may lessen the list...

 

[Jeff F]

One other possible alternative IF you have the space is move some of your heavier objects (batteries, tools) that you may have on the port side more toward the center line. This may lessen the list...

That's a good start, and the easiest to try. I had success in my boat shuffling tools and supplies around, but it's a lot more sensitive to that than your boat would be.

How much are you off? How many people have to stand on one side to level it out?

If all the tanks are on one side It's hard to imagine a good solution other than relocating some of them.

 

[dirtdoc1]

That's actually not a bad problem to have. Put another fuel tank on the other side with transfer pumps. You'll be able to trim the boat by transferring fuel and increase your range!

 

[Irish Rambler]

I've had similar problems in my last 2 boats, neither had practical space for tanks and having tried all options I used cement. I bought sacks of cement from the hardware store and used 20 litre plastic bin bags. Fill the bin bag half full, tie it off with a cable tie and very carefully (the bags rip easily) transfer it into a plastic carrier bag.
Having found a suitable space in the bilge or up against the hull gently place in position and roll the small bag of cement out of the carrier bag and pat into position being careful not to puncture it. It will mould itself into position and harden.
Add as required to correct the trim. The cement will lock itself in position and won't move. If and when you ever need to move it, simply remove the bags.
The beauty of cement is once in position its clean with no smell,mess or contamination in the bilges
Another method is to get some used shot blast from any engineering works, its very heavy, and mix it with fibreglass and fix it in position, this is obviously a permanent fix and great care must be taken not to allow any to be spilt or get into the bilges.

 

[Sabre602]

Mine has waste and water tankage to port, fuel tanks to starboard, and came with a pronounced list to port. I distributed 500 pounds of lead ingots as far outboard along the starboard side as possible and she sits perfectly trimmed with full water and fuel.

 

[Mrwesson]

Adding ballast should be a last resort IMO and i'd even say it's better to do nothing than add weight to a boat just to level it.

Move the weight around, add useful weight(fuel tanks, waste, water, batteries,etc) or ignore it.

 

[O C Diver]

Adding ballast should be a last resort IMO and i'd even say it's better to do nothing than add weight to a boat just to level it.

Move the weight around, add useful weight(fuel tanks, waste, water, batteries,etc) or ignore it.

While I agree with you in principle, 500 pounds on a 50,000 pound boat, really isn't significant. It's like 2 heavy people sitting in the starboard saloon chairs.

Ted

 

[twistedtree]

With imbalanced tankage side to side, you will have an inevitable range of list depending on how full the tanks are. Shifting rigid ballast around will only shift around the list angles, but will never remove the list other than perhaps at one tank level.

Perhaps the best approach is to ballast for even trim at mid tank level. Then with full tanks you will list to port, and less than half you will list to stbd. But one way or another, your trim is going to change based on tankage.

 

[HiDHo]

Krogen placed our engine, generator and holding tank centered over the keel. But the 150 gallon port and starboard water tanks levels needed management to correct listing. I solved that problem by cross connecting the two tanks and drawing water from both. With 300 gallons of potable water it’s never a problem running both tanks dry.

 

[Bendit]

When we launched, 15 years ago, Pioneer was down at the stern with a pronounced list to port - with no water on board. Kinda ruined the day!
However, by judiciously moving a couple of 100 kg friends around, we worked out how to improve the trim.

It was a big job, but we moved all the batteries (6), from midships, forward into the wheelhouse and to starboard under the dinette. This corrected the problem for 90% of the time, but with both water tanks full, we still have a slight list to port. On the rare occasion we need both tanks, maybe twice a year, I simply use the port tank first.
Batteries are probably the most dense items on board.

 

[kwmeyer13]

Batteries are probably the most dense items on board.

My wife would respectfully disagree with you on that. She would tell you that I am probably the most dense item on board.