Lead ballast

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

400 lbs of lead ballast. Going in the stern to counter act bow down due to anchor chain and also when water tank is empty. Water tank located under rear cabin.

Comodave · Mar 20, 2018

Are you going to glass it in?

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

I wasnt planning on it. But i do need to secure them. I have a good spot beside my water tank that will fit them.

Comodave · Mar 20, 2018

I put a bunch of lead ballast in a previous boat. We glassed it in as I didn’t want it moving in a large sea. I didn’t have any way to bolt them down since the lead was going against the hull. After we glassed it in I never saw any indication that it had moved at all. You don’t want a 60 pound or so missle flying areound your bilge.

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

Give me something to think about.

DHeckrotte · Mar 20, 2018

Can you get it further aft? Against the transom? Do you have something you need, like a dinghy on davits, or the spare anchor and rode that could profitably be placed aft? Do you have something heavy that you don't need up forward?

You might want to take 400lbs of friends, parked on the taffrail, for a look-see and a ride. See if you notice any difference in trim or knots/rpm.

My experience (on power and sail) is that weight 'way forward makes much more difference in trim than weight aft.

O C Diver · Mar 20, 2018

DHeckrotte said:
My experience (on power and sail) is that weight 'way forward makes much more difference in trim than weight aft.

+1

If you look at the width of the bow at the waterline versus the stern, you may be disappointed by what the ballast will actually accomplish. Ballasting the stern may not bring the bow up. When Ballasting my boat, I didn't fix anything in place till I was satisfied with the results.

Ted

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

It lowered the stern 1 inch and bow up and an inch as well. But not much overall.

alfamike · Mar 20, 2018

Quick Question to "senangsekali"

Quick Question to "senangsekali"

What is it costing for lead bars per pound these days for the ballast ?

What are they going for, price wise each, to by a 20 lb bar like these now-a-days ?

Any "Quantity Discounts" when you buy 400 Lbs. at a time ?

Is it cheaper to by in 20 Lbs. Bars, or 50 Lbs. Bars or 70 Lbs. Bars ?

Thanks.

Alfa Mike

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

alfamike said:
Quick Question to "senangsekali"

What is it costing for lead bars per pound these days for the ballast ?

What are they going for, price wise each, to by a 20 lb bar like these now-a-days ?

Any "Quantity Discounts" when you buy 400 Lbs. at a time ?

Is it cheaper to by in 20 Lbs. Bars, or 50 Lbs. Bars or 70 Lbs. Bars ?

Thanks.

Alfa Mike

I paid $1.10 per pound.

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

senangsekali said:
I paid $1.10 per pound.

Also i got a .20 cent dicount for buying 400 lbs

alfamike said:
Quick Question to "senangsekali"

What is it costing for lead bars per pound these days for the ballast ?

What are they going for, price wise each, to by a 20 lb bar like these now-a-days ?

Any "Quantity Discounts" when you buy 400 Lbs. at a time ?

Is it cheaper to by in 20 Lbs. Bars, or 50 Lbs. Bars or 70 Lbs. Bars ?

Thanks.

Alfa Mike

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

DHeckrotte said:
Can you get it further aft? Against the transom? Do you have something you need, like a dinghy on davits, or the spare anchor and rode that could profitably be placed aft? Do you have something heavy that you don't need up forward?

You might want to take 400lbs of friends, parked on the taffrail, for a look-see and a ride. See if you notice any difference in trim or knots/rpm.

My experience (on power and sail) is that weight 'way forward makes much more difference in trim than weight aft.

I have it placed right at the transom. I am going to make a box and glass it in. I will secure a top on it. I have about 1.5 ft behind my rudder post. That is clear to make a 3 ft box for the lead.

HenryD · Mar 20, 2018

When we bought our boat, the prior owner had loaded 2500 lbs of lead bards as far forward as he could get it. They were not secured, just stacked. I contacted our architect and he ran the numbers. He calculated the extra weight moved the bow down at most 1.25". We removed the lead and I moved some bilge storage around and have not really noticed a difference.
Good luck with your changes.

Airstream345 · Mar 20, 2018

May I ask where you sourced your ballast? Locally in Seattle I was getting quotes closer to $2/lb.

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

Airstream345 said:
May I ask where you sourced your ballast? Locally in Seattle I was getting quotes closer to $2/lb.

Local guy here in Victoria BC who salvages old boats.

Nomad Willy · Mar 20, 2018

Yes I agree Airstream,
That’s cheap.

Re the bow down how much chain and what size is it? I’d shorten/lighten chain.

I’ll bet you have twin FL’s and they are unusually far fwd.

But aside from reducing ground tackle weight I’d look throughout the boat for heavy things that can be moved aft. I worked at Uniflite in the 70’s moving heavy items around to improve trim, however it was usually lateral. They were new boats and therefore didn’t have as many things to move. Many to most boat owners literally fill a boat up w “stuff” w little or no consideration to weight. My water tanks are aft too but I usually keep them fairly full. I belive a boat handles better and is safer w weight a bit too far aft rather than too far fwd. but before you get rilled at boat designers boats get too active in pitch w all the weight amidships.

So I’d go after that anchor rode and then get serious about moving “stuff” aft. And while you’re at it see if you have a list to correct too .. as long as you’re moving stuff around ...

I talk about this issue rather seriously because I think there are quite a number of boats on TF that could benefit from trim adjustment. Mostly bow down. So I’m probably addressing many more than the OP.

kapnd · Mar 20, 2018

I added a ton of lead at the stern, had less than an inch of change in the waterline at the stern, negligible change at the bow. Also no discernible difference in ride or speed.
Concluded that it was a poorly thought out and expensive experiment.
Should have done preliminary test with water, it’s free!
Wound up with the lead in the engine room, low and center, for slightly less roll.
Currently packing sack concrete around the lead, just enough to keep it from shifting.

Comodave · Mar 20, 2018

On one of our previous boats we had to add ballast in the stern. None of the drains in the boat worked because the builder added a cockpit to a design that didn’t have one originally. We added 1300 pounds in the stern and increased our water tanks in the stern by almost 100 gallons. It made the drains work better, but not as good as I would have liked but I didn’t have any more room for more ballast. The boat had a 16’ beam so there was a huge amount of bouyancy aft. It was the best I could do short of cutting off the cockpit and that wasn’t happening... Good luck with your project. We also replaced the fuel tank that was in the stern but not all the way into the cockpit and went from 400 gallons to 565 gallons. It takes a lot of ballast in the stern to make a difference.

Al · Mar 20, 2018

Airstream345 said:
May I ask where you sourced your ballast? Locally in Seattle I was getting quotes closer to $2/lb.

Is your quote based on What? Scrap lead in what form? Asked as I purchased 50# lead ingots at$1.20 # two years or so months ago. Freight was $.20 per # laid into Ketchikan. Purchased a total of 1400#. Boy, unlike some of the post here, without this ballast amount, our boat was a cork!! Hobby horsed and rolled at such a rate that one thought about abandoning ship literally
.
I have extolled the use of this ballast on the forum to a great extent so will hold back save to say our boat now is as stable as one could wish for being a 28 foot boat with a 10 foot max beam. Where we drew near 3 feet draft, now we are near 3' 4".
Our ballast is loose in terms related to that laying alongside the engine stringers, the majority is located between the stringers and is self locking due to that arrangement. The ingots to the sides are taped with gorilla tape as the are 2 1/2" high by 4" wide, so they remain fixed, the tape is redundant

Al-Ketchikan

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

Nomad Willy said:
Yes I agree Airstream,
That’s cheap.

Re the bow down how much chain and what size is it? I’d shorten/lighten chain.

I’ll bet you have twin FL’s and they are unusually far fwd.

But aside from reducing ground tackle weight I’d look throughout the boat for heavy things that can be moved aft. I worked at Uniflite in the 70’s moving heavy items around to improve trim, however it was usually lateral. They were new boats and therefore didn’t have as many things to move. Many to most boat owners literally fill a boat up w “stuff” w little or no consideration to weight. My water tanks are aft too but I usually keep them fairly full. I belive a boat handles better and is safer w weight a bit too far aft rather than too far fwd. but before you get rilled at boat designers boats get too active in pitch w all the weight amidships.

So I’d go after that anchor rode and then get serious about moving “stuff” aft. And while you’re at it see if you have a list to correct too .. as long as you’re moving stuff around ...

I talk about this issue rather seriously because I think there are quite a number of boats on TF that could benefit from trim adjustment. Mostly bow down. So I’m probably addressing many more than the OP.

Hello, I have a single fl120 which to me is a little forward. I have 300ft of 3/8" chain. When i removed the chain last year it came up approximately 2" or so if not more. Ye the chain is heavy bbb chain. So im just trying to level the boat better when the water tank is empty. This exagerates the bow down when the tank is empty.

senangsekali · Mar 20, 2018

kapnd said:
I added a ton of lead at the stern, had less than an inch of change in the waterline at the stern, negligible change at the bow. Also no discernible difference in ride or speed.
Concluded that it was a poorly thought out and expensive experiment.
Should have done preliminary test with water, it’s free!
Wound up with the lead in the engine room, low and center, for slightly less roll.
Currently packing sack concrete around the lead, just enough to keep it from shifting.

Thats a good idea.
Thanks

Lead ballast

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