Ballast

[Johnny5]

I'm now back in the water after a long year renovating
I have a small steel river cruiser with a drive leg
I have extended to coach roof along with adding a battery bank of 4 batterys under the rear bench seat
I have noticed the boat now sits slightly higher at the bow and more noticeable when under way as we tend to congregate in the rear cockpit
The drive leg also look a tad low in the water when we sit on the rear bench
Should I now add some ballast to try to bring the bow down ?
I don't have much space under the lockers I'm assuming I need to get the Ballast as far forward as possible?
Any recommendations please

 

[Stemar]

Adding weight is rarely a good thing to do unless the boat's too light to begin with, which doesn't seem to be the case. I'd look to redistribute the weight you've got

If there's anywhere to put 'em, I'd start by moving 3 of the batteries to the bow and keep one as a dedicated starting battery aft. Better still would be to move all 4 and have a small starting battery aft.

 

[richardabeattie]

Do you really need 4 batteries? Seems a bit OTT for a river cruiser.

 

[Kelpie]

Can the drive leg be trimmed at all?

 

[Johnny5]

Yes you are right I went a little ott with the battery bank I did intend to fit a big inverter but I'm most lightly not going to do that now
With a little re-wiring I can move two house battery to the bow locker and get rid of the third one and just keep one for the engine
I can trim the drive leg but that's not the issue if we are sitting to the rear of the boat the front sits to high this maybe the extra weight of the extended roof

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes you are right I went a little ott
I can trim the drive leg but that's not the issue if we are sitting to the rear of the boat the front sits to high this maybe the extra weight of the extended roof

What about the patio & the dormer windows? can you move those along a bit. Perhaps the garage lean to !!!!!!

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Full beer crate would do the trick except you'd have to refill it very weekend! ... :encouragement: