Brian Lawson wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:36:38 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

Ok, I'm getting her better balanced now.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~capri26/

Moving the movable stuff around helps, but most of my
installed heaviness is to port.
And I can't use the port water tanks right now without
inducing a serious list.

I need about 200 to 250 pounds of lead (or gold?) bars.

Metal World wants to know what alloy, size and shape I need.

I'm clueless as to lead alloys.

Are there standard bar shapes and sizes?

Or even better, anybody near Dallas Area have any scraps to sell?

Hey Richard,

I can't believe that in the 20 odd replies, nobody bothered to mention
how GREAT the boat looks. BRISTOL!!

How much list are you seeing, and are you sure it's "ballast" you
need? Try some bags of water as a test.

I guess you could just always run only on starboard tack so your
weight helps out, or get bigger rail-meat.

Stow more "stuff" under the starboard berths/settee(s)

Put that extra water tank on the starboard side and pipe it over, and
make a simple transfer method to assist, maybe even a seawater bladder
that you can fill while running. I think that the MacGregor 26 uses
some sort of transferable water-ballast, but I've never seen it.

And a further comment about the compass "location". You can't swing a
compass to get it correct unless it is stable in place. That's why
most of the type I see on your moving panel are visible 360 degrees,
and made to be mounted in the companionway bulkhead so it is visible
from both the cockpit and the cabin. And in 4 foot sea's, best that
it is mounted so it can't whip around.

Keep any absolutely required ballast low and close to centre, or cant
the keel.

Beautiful boat, or did I mention that ?!?!

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Past Commodore LMYC.
Bothwell, Ontario.





Bless you Brian!

It's 3 am and I just now got home from a moonlight sail tonight.
So that was a nice post to find!

The list is noticeable if you look.
I can go stand on the starboard rail and level the boat.

The reason for the list is because all the heavy stuff is concentrated
on the port side.

We have a head, holding tank, water tank, and water heater, fuel tank, and
motor over there. (and the two batteries are slightly to port.

I've decided to simply remove the water heater as it takes up a
lot of room in that locker, is heavy by itself and hold another 6 gallons
(call is 48 pounds) of water. It's also over 4 feet from the center line.
That alone would be a 4000 to 5000 inch pound correction.

The motor should have been installed to starboard.
90 pounds, nearly 3 feet off center is 3200 moments (pound inches).
Moving it to the other side would be 6400 moment correction - a big step in
the right direction!

But it's not that simple.
The back stay would have to swap sides too.
And the motor control box would have to be changed.
Control cables rerouted, etc.

A few bars of pure gold on the starboard beam could work real well.