ballast question...

[monkey_trousers]

curious one this, still not sure wether we're doing a good thing or a bad thing

getting rid of loads of ballast, not sure why it was there, or wether it needs to be. the boat is an old fifie. think scottish MFV trawler type thing. she's not sailing, strictly motor. Although long term she'll be sailing again, but thats likely a few years off yet

there's ballast every sodding where, tons and tons of the stuff, we removed maybe 2 ton at the weekend, which was stored in a most peculiar place. the very forepeak of fo'csle had been boarded across and it was stacked in there, floor to ceiling so over 2/3 of it was above the waterline.

surely that can't have helped stability??

the rest of the boat is crammed with the stuff in the bilges, mainly lengths of railway line in 12" lengths and old sash weights. thats on top of masses of concrete that is laid down on top of the hog

I don't know the science of these things, but does it really need all that?? I'm guessing it wouldn't have had it when she was built and working

whats the advantages or disadvantages of ditching a load of it?

the other place that there's a major stash of the stuff is right in the stern over the prop, but again mostly above the waterline. t here's maybe another ton and a half there

 

[Seanick]

Remove it, keep it (hide it!!).
Ideally it should be amiships, not in the ends, and below the sole.
Bear in mind that the boat has lst a lot of deck gear, and this ballast may have been put in to replace winches, gantry, pumps etc. She may need this to keep her down on her marks, so she does not bob about so much. With my own boat, which is very similar, the more ballast I put in the better she gets. I am slowly changing cast iron for lead as, and this is the point, that I cant fit any more under the sole in cast iron, and keep head room.
Another reason for keeping it amidships is to prevent the hull hogging, and for that reason alone I would move it.
Do check prices for lead before you think of changing it all.......
and hide your cast iron before someone else weighs it in for you......

When you rig the vessel she will need to be down on her marks to 'go well and feel right'. This is because she will probably rely on form stability, ie her shape, to keep her up, rather than the ballast low down to give a righting moment, although it will help at extreme angle of heel (before it all falls out of place and appears in the saloon !!). Sorry, poor sense of humor.
Hope this info adds to your own.
ps
It is not good practice to lay ballast on planking, it should be across the frames...

 

[monkey_trousers]

good answer(s) ta Muchly

the bit that was up front was doing her no good at all IMHO, stacked as high and as far forward as it was, took her out yesterday after we'd shifted it and she was much more stable and the steering was vastly improved for some reason.

I had thought that having that much weight that high up in the bows was very iffy when we were bring her back - it got so 'bouncy' off rattray head one of the crew suggested antifouling the wheelhouse roof!

hadn't thought about the position of the weight re: across frames not timbers, but it is a a bit obvious I guess, there's lots of sash weights, longer than any I've ever seen at about 2 foot, and they are all laid across the timbers in between the frames!

so they'll be getting re-arranged this week (oh joy!)

hadn't thought about he lost weight in terms of machinery either, although from the original pictures I have she didn't have a huge amount, just one winch on deck

tis a bugger in many respects, the saloon floor is inch thick mahogany planking, so well laid I've been scratching my head try to work out which was the last bit put in so it can be the first bit taken out, so i can reuse it, not sure what surprise lie in wait under there

 

[Seanick]

Of course your mast, spars, sails and rigging will probably total 2 tonnes in weight.......

 

[Gordonmc]

Sorry for fred drift, but have you any tips for getting hold of lead?
I managed to get a couple of 14k ingots, but nada recently. I reckon I will need around five tons to replace the cast iron pigs trimmable balast in my Hillyard.
I am collecting old pipes, roof flashing and anything else that will melt into ingots, but the scrappies have cottoned on to the sort of money the Chinese are paying for any metal.
I even tried tyre fitters for their old wheel weights, but of course they no longer use lead.

 

[Peterduck]

Gordon, i'd like to suggest a look at replacing your iron with a mixture of barite and portland cement. Barite is commonly and cheaply available anywhere where oil wells are being or have been drilled [Aberdeen?] and has a relative density of 4.8, compared to iron of 7.5 or lead at 11. I know that it is less dense, but it is castable into any shpae that your heart desires and Oh joy! it doesn't rust. Just one to keep in mind.
Peter.

 

[monkey_trousers]

you tried the local church and a long ladder!

it is getting harder to come by. the weights used by tyre fitters are still fairly high on the lead content, with the addition of a little zinc apparently, upto about 10% from what I was told. I still scrounge these to melt down and make boat fishing weights

local scrap metal dealers up here are wanting about £1 per kilo for scrap lead

I've picked a few bits up on ebay - surplus lead flashing, when it has appeared locally

depending on where you are there was one guy about a mount ago selling just over 1 ton of lead on ebay, he wanted 750 quid for it. I watched the auction and it didn't sell, no good for me though as he was south coast somewhere, but if you do a search of completed items on ebay you might be able to find him and send him an email to see if he's still got it