My buddy has a 34 Ft Luhrs Flybridge. He rebuilt his galley(STBD) and has a port list. We want to balance the boat back out. We figure there needs to be about a 400 lb added to stbd side of boat. We were thinking of what materials to use to place in the bilge to even the boat out. Is lead best way? And if so is it available to purchase? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Looking for a way to balance boat.
- Thread starter mariner61
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If you could figure out a way to lighten the other side by 400 lbs, then you would have something. What about more batteries, placed well to the starboard side? You can never have too much 12v power. A couple of 4-d's has to be nearly 300 pounds. I suppose that would cost a lot more than lead though.
captainwjm
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Bags of playground sand from HD or Lowes; wrap in plastic bags., place into voids along hull in bilge.
Redoing the galley without considering the weight was not the best move he could have made. He should have thought about that before he made the changes and used a different design or different materials. It's not a house.
Yes, sand is probably the least expensive and easiest to use material for adding weight to balance the boat. You can add one bag at a time until you have a balance. Remember, the further towards the opposite side that you add the weight, the less you will need and that's a good thing. It costs money to take that sand along with you on every trip. Keep the sand in the same relative position as the galley front to back as well.
And yes, extra batteries are never a bad thing so adding batteries, at least you get some use out of the added weight.
The problem with using a water (or fuel) tank for balast is, the weight changes as the contents are used up.
Sometimes we end up storing more and more stuff on our boats. For example, I have a spare prop (21", it weighs quite a bit) and a spare anchor and rope/chain rode. I changed the balance of my boat slightly by replacing my batteries with heavier ones and found that moving the heavy stored items to the other side of the boat corrected my inbalance.
Sometimes we end up storing more and more stuff on our boats. For example, I have a spare prop (21", it weighs quite a bit) and a spare anchor and rope/chain rode. I changed the balance of my boat slightly by replacing my batteries with heavier ones and found that moving the heavy stored items to the other side of the boat corrected my inbalance.
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Adding weight to a boat will cause performance to suffer and fuel usage to increase. Is there anything on board he can move to the otherside to offset the list?
A buddy once repowered his boat and took advantage of an empty engine room to reposition his genset for just the purpose of taking care of his listing problem.
A buddy once repowered his boat and took advantage of an empty engine room to reposition his genset for just the purpose of taking care of his listing problem.
Ron I agree but still additional water or battery power would make a plus out of a bad situation. Refill the tank or use it for your crapper where not much water would be used anyway. I'm all for additional excessive battery power. This is coming from a guy with 12 batteries on his vessel.
Between the batteries and solar panels it takes a long time for me to run out of DC power while on the hook or living on the boat after a storm. I have done both.
I rarely need the generator, quiet is nice when brewing my morning coffee on the hook in the Spring or Fall!
Bill
Between the batteries and solar panels it takes a long time for me to run out of DC power while on the hook or living on the boat after a storm. I have done both.
I rarely need the generator, quiet is nice when brewing my morning coffee on the hook in the Spring or Fall!
Bill
Using water as ballast, allows one to discharge it when the weight of the water is not needed, IE: haul out, grounding, etc. Come to think of it fat girls are moveable weight and depending on the circumstances, may have offsetting benefits.
sabrejocky
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Like what Keith? Use them for flotation?
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Add granite countertops, and stone tile sole in the galley. That'll help straighten out the list and look great too. As for what others were saying about adding weight reducing performance, I got from the original post that rebuilding the starboard side galley resulted in a port list; thus, 400 lbs of weight was *removed* from the starboard side as a result of the galley reno. If the remaining weight was distributed evenly that would have resulted in improved performance, in theory, as a result of less weight.
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"We figure there needs to be about a 400 lb added to stbd side of boat."
Before you go adding weight ( boats seem to gain weight without conscious effort ), why not redistribute the existing load. ie: If you have a port-side battery box, move it to STBD. ditto water pumps, Note that it might not be necessary to actually move items to the STBD side, but rather simply closer to the STBD side. You may have also altered the fore-aft weight distribution, so consider correcting this ( if any ) as well.
I would -always- consider adding dead weight as the last choice option. And if forced to add weight, add something you actually want, such as batteries, vs something you already get plenty of, but don't want ( sand ).
Before you go adding weight ( boats seem to gain weight without conscious effort ), why not redistribute the existing load. ie: If you have a port-side battery box, move it to STBD. ditto water pumps, Note that it might not be necessary to actually move items to the STBD side, but rather simply closer to the STBD side. You may have also altered the fore-aft weight distribution, so consider correcting this ( if any ) as well.
I would -always- consider adding dead weight as the last choice option. And if forced to add weight, add something you actually want, such as batteries, vs something you already get plenty of, but don't want ( sand ).
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Or Cement! I could tell you some horror stories about the Cement along the Keel, rotting the wood around it and some hapless kid jumps down onto the cement bottom structure, which stomps out a big chunk of Bottom.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle...
I would look for a way to use some deep cycle batteries for ballast too, and somehow tie them in to the charging system, or at least the battery charger when at the dock. Maybe have a whole separate bank of batteries you can switch to after you drop the hook.
The more power you have for accessories when on the anchor the better.
The more power you have for accessories when on the anchor the better.