Once you figure out what you are trying to accomplish, then look at solutions, costs, skills needed, etc.
Good advice, thank you.
Let me try to answer your points.
When I purchased the boat, I had no documentation, or any details about her. Obviously, nobody mentioned the possibility of stability issues. I had a survey, but it did not say much. It was mostly about rusty surfaces to fix.
I was sailing around, doing day trips in Puget Sound and I had no problems in my mind. I was new to the pleasure boating. Stability never came into my mind. I just accepted the boat as she was.
Few years later, more knowledgeable and experienced boaters visited my boat and brought up the stability/rolling problem, but I ignored it, because I had no plans to go out to the ocean and the roll was just part of the boat's ownership.
When I realized that I cannot do my own diving and barnacle cleaning anymore due to my age, I searched for a fresh water marina. I found one on the Columbia river and I decided to sail my boat down here. During this trip, I had very bad rolling experience. This was not necessarily a result of a messed up boat profile. Although, the blip at the stern did not take well the following swells (buoyancy?) from the NW, it is certainly possible that my seamanship was not good enough to avoid the heavy rolling behavior of the boat. I should have secured everything much better, moved weights below from the top, follow a course with less disturbance from the sea and beam, etc. I believe, my sailing experience would have been much less dramatic, if I paid more attention.
In a later discussion with experienced boaters, I was told that my boat is not safe enough for even coastal cruising. Without questioning this statement, I still do not want to give up on the boat and sell it. I love my boat as it is and I was searching for answers I did not have.
After reading other threads and talking to people, I came to the conclusion that perhaps there is a way to improve the seaworthiness of my boat. It will never be perfect. I know that. Maybe it is already modified enough to the point where there is not much can be done, without investing 1-200K into a serious upgrade, or modification? I can't tell.
Right now, I do not care about the rolling problem as much anymore. It is what it is and preparation and seamanship is the key to make it somewhat better. My present focus is to learn, if there is something can be done on a tight budget, which could improve the stability of my boat?
I received multiple ideas and there are options, for sure. What the result would be is hard to tell without doing it. Rolling chocks, bilge keels, twin keels, ballast, and more ballast, etc. Paravanes, flopper-stoppers are physically challenging at my age. A NA's involvement is almost mandatory towards this goal. I agree to that, but I still need to make a decision which way to go? This is why I started several threads to learn from other experiences and get ideas from people with broader knowledge. Some of the ideas are very elegant and certainly promising. These are also very pricey. Other ideas are more simple and easy to built, or easy to remove, if needed. If only expensive solutions are in the picture, I will not proceed, because I can't fund it. If there is a lesser 10-20K solution looks like a possible aid to the stability problem, I will go for it. If my modified boat would take me down to South, I will be satisfied.
As of now, this is what I know I have to do:
- get an incline test done
- get basic drawings and measurement of the hull, which can help a NA to determine the needed/possible ballast solution
- get the ballast designed and choose the mounting option
- get the ballast fabricated and delivered to a yard, where I will haul out the boat
- mount the ballast and test the boat
This can take couple years. Time is not an issue. If the ballast does not deliver, I can leave it on, or remove it and sell the boat down the road.
www.boatdesign.net
