Where's the ballast?

[Steve1]

Hi, I am the new owner of a mid 1980's Taiwanese trawler (40 foot Kha Shing sundeck) and it lists to stb. Previous owner also said it listed. So I am trying to figure out if there is ballast on the stb side hidden somewhere, and maybe move some of it to port. Trouble is that I cannot find any ballast.

Does anyone have suggestions of where to look?

thanks!

 

[mvweebles]

Hi, I am the new owner of a mid 1980's Taiwanese trawler (40 foot Kha Shing sundeck) and it lists to stb. Previous owner also said it listed. So I am trying to figure out if there is ballast on the stb side hidden somewhere, and maybe move some of it to port. Trouble is that I cannot find any ballast.



Does anyone have suggestions of where to look?



thanks!

Normally placed under the side decks. Typically 60 lb ingots, often with an ear at each end for easy fastening.

https://www.rotometals.com/whole-lead-pig-ingot-57-62-pounds-99-9/

Peter

 

[Comodave]

There likely isn’t any ballast. It just may be the way the boat is built, where heavy things like batteries, etc are located. Can you move some heavy things to the other side? If not then you will probably have to think about adding some ballast on the high side. First put some people on the high side and see how much weight you need to balance the boat properly. Then see if you can move things or add ballast in the weight you found with the people. As said above the lead ballast can be ingots in the 60 pound range, I have used them. You should encapsulate the lead with fiberglass to contain and lead flakes and also to secure them from moving. Don’t want 60 pound ingots sliding or flying around.

 

[slowgoesit]

Hint: Moving weight from low side to high side is TWICE as effective as just placing ballast on the high side! Commodave nailed it.
The batteries are the heaviest, and relatively easy weight to move.

But before you start moving weight/adding ballast, I would recommend that you verify the location of fuel, water, and waste tanks, and how much fuel/water/waste is in the tanks. Centerline tanks you can disregard since they don't affect lateral trim.

Where I'm going with this, is that I knew a boat that had 4 fuel tanks, two large ones on either side in the engine room, and two, about 150 gallons each in the lazerette. Seller stated that the aft tanks weren't used. Investigation revealed that the port tank was about 80% full, the stbd tank was empty. Port tank contents was about half and half fuel and water. We surmised that the seller had a problem with water in the aft tank(s), and instead of fixing the problem, just stopped using them, and went so far as to disconnect the fuel lines from the aft tanks and plug them. Further inspection revealed that the o-ring from the port fuel tank filler cap was missing. . . . .

Installed a new o-ring and pumped out the tank, list corrected, but the fuel tanks weren't in great shape, so were eventually removed.

Check the little things first, and don't assume that the seller didn't overlook something simple. O-ring allowed rain and washdown water to gradually build up in the port tank, and never associated the slowly increasing list to contents of the fuel tanks.

Just a thought.

 

[Steve1]

thanks everyone. Water tanks, batteries, generator are centerline, so no help there. Fuel tanks are outboard on each side. Low side is 100% full, High side 95%. There is a dinghy cradle and crane on the high side. The cradle is empty. I was thinking that maybe someone thought they needed to weight the boat to compensate for the dinghy, but for the life of me I cannot figure out where. So I will try to add a bit of weight and manage which tank I use fuel from.