Ballast (again)

[Jeff F]

I think I meant to say is leave crossover closed until ballast is added to make level, then open crossover to work as designed to self level as used.

If you're happy having the crossover open all the time and having the tanks combined and self-leveling then go for it. I would never do that, for reasons that have nothing to do with trim or ballast, and I'm not alone. Maybe that's a separate discussion.

 

[Steve1.0]

" puts the weight as high and far outboard as I can carry it."


I think "far outboard", good, "as high" ... not so much.



I like the idea of low CG.

 

[angus99]

" puts the weight as high and far outboard as I can carry it."


I think "far outboard", good, "as high" ... not so much.



I like the idea of low CG.

That’s an important consideration. These DeFevers are very heavy with a low center of gravity and were designed to carry a dinghy on the roof of the sundeck—or boat deck—about 13 ft above the waterline. I consulted with Wilson Lin and naval architect Tad Roberts when I was considering putting a 500+ lb dinghy up there. Both told me it would have little to no impact on ultimate stability.

Fast forward two years and I’ve removed the 200 lbs of dinghy and chocks that came with the boat from the high boat deck. I now carry a dink off the transom, about six feet above the waterline. With that additional lowering of the center of gravity, I’m not too worried about a few hundred pounds of ballast some three feet above the waterline.

 

[Sharpseadog]

We have a noticeable list due to galley, A/C equipment and large house bank located on the port side. I can correct by adjusting tank levels but at some point we lose a fair amount of fuel/water capacity to list-correcting.



I’ve read some of the archived threads but would appreciate knowing the options available for adding ballast to a ~55,000-lb full/semi-displacement hull. Some of you use lead shot. I’m not crazy about having 100,000 tiny pieces of a hazardous substance aboard so how do you encapsulate or secure it? For those with lead ingots, how do you restrain it? (Love to see photos.). Also, where can you get lead in quantity?



Sand, is apparently another option; I don’t like to think of the mess if a bag breaks. What else should I be considering?



Thanks in advance.

Several people mentioned leaving fuel or water cross over valves open. My experience has been that doing that results in liquid transferring from the high side to the low side making situation much worse. Very hard to get any fluid to run up hill.

You can adjust ballast by burning fuel from the heavy side fuel tank first, and if the light side fuel tank isn't full, very carefully run with fuel return off on heavy side an on for light side. You Must monitor gauges very closely to avoid overfilling return side. And be exceptionally careful to NOT EVER run with both returns off. [emoji848][emoji848]

 

[muthrtuckr]

Ballast

We had the same problem with our Monk 36. She was very bow heavy. I had folks climb on board and tell me what they weighed. I need about 1200 lbs!

We had an empty, non-useable 90 gallon water tank on the aft port quarter. Ended up taking all the chain people would give me when they got new and dumped it into the tank...along with lifting weights that weren't being used anymore. We're pretty level fore/aft but still have some issue side to side depending on the water level in our tanks which are under the bed. If we didn't use any water we would have any problem

If you can find some way to keep it in place chain is an easy, inexpensive way to do it. Folks are always get rid of it. BBB chain weighs about 165/100' so 200' of old chain was almost 1000 lbs.

For water ballast, since water weighs in at 8.3/gallon, I would have needed 117 gallons.

 

[angus99]

Several people mentioned leaving fuel or water cross over valves open. My experience has been that doing that results in liquid transferring from the high side to the low side making situation much worse. Very hard to get any fluid to run up hill.

You can adjust ballast by burning fuel from the heavy side fuel tank first, and if the light side fuel tank isn't full, very carefully run with fuel return off on heavy side an on for light side. You Must monitor gauges very closely to avoid overfilling return side. And be exceptionally careful to NOT EVER run with both returns off. [emoji848][emoji848]

I removed the water crossover line for the reason you mention. No fuel crossover came with our boat so, again as you suggest, I alternate the drawdown from the saddle tanks to maintain relative stability. The problem is that even with 500+ lbs of fuel in the stbd tank and the port fuel tank (along with both water tanks) empty, there is still a small but noticeable list to port. I want to be able to carry full tanks without a list (assuming normal alternating drawdowns), so I need some ballast to compensate.

 

[Moonfish]

We have 10 50 lb lead weight bars for adjusting ballast. Although I've only moved 4-6 of them around a couple of times, I'm surprised I've had to do it even that often in 9.5 years. I keep them as low and outboard as possible, along the hull and under drawers and hanging lockers. I'm also surprised at how much of a difference it can make moving and strategically placing 200 lbs of lead weight on a 50,000 lb vessel!

 

[Barrie]

Our starboard side shower doesn't drain properly so to correct it I ask my wife to go sit on the port side and read her book for 15 minutes.

 

[SteveK]

Several people mentioned leaving fuel or water cross over valves open. My experience has been that doing that results in liquid transferring from the high side to the low side making situation much worse. Very hard to get any fluid to run up hill.

You can adjust ballast by burning fuel from the heavy side fuel tank first, and if the light side fuel tank isn't full, very carefully run with fuel return off on heavy side an on for light side. You Must monitor gauges very closely to avoid overfilling return side. And be exceptionally careful to NOT EVER run with both returns off. [emoji848][emoji848]

as one of the several, I need to know when it would be necessary for fluid to go uphill.
The mass of my boat is far greater than the mass of the fluids, so if my boat is level fuel and water remain level. It works well for me.
Now a lot of the tupperware boats are tender and will heel easily from side to side just by crossing your legs. Those boats should not have the crossover open.

 

[BevinB]

I had 400lbs added under the bed in the guest cabin which is directly opposite the galley due to a starboard list. It’s held down with flexible construction adhesive.

I think the designers did their balancing math with 2 x 200lb bodies permanently asleep…

 

[Frank60]

I used wake boat ballast bags: https://www.leadwake.com/collections/frontpage

They are 'encapsulated', have handles, decent price and free shipping over $50. They're (relatively) easy to move around as you experiment with placement. I needed 500 pounds to level my boat. You can use the handles to anchor them if you're concerned about movement.

 

[angus99]

I used wake boat ballast bags: https://www.leadwake.com/collections/frontpage

They are 'encapsulated', have handles, decent price and free shipping over $50. They're (relatively) easy to move around as you experiment with placement. I needed 500 pounds to level my boat. You can use the handles to anchor them if you're concerned about movement.

Thank you! This put me on the trail of commercial-grade sandbags which I’ll likely fill with pea gravel. Even though these are supposed to be spill-proof, I’d rather clean up gravel than sand. Not as dense or compact as lead, but non-toxic and a LOT cheaper.

https://www.sandbagstore.com/armor-sandbags.html