Good lead ballast supplier?

[PhillM]

I have been advised to trim my boat with 100kg lead ballast. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good / reputable supplier. In a perfect world I would want four or five bars, encased in plastic (so they don’t corrode in the bilge) and some way of attaching a strap so they don’t get thrown around.
I assume carriage is also going to be an issue. I am in Hampshire and can collect.

Oh and I don’t want to pay a fortune!

Nor do I want to nick it from the local Church roof !

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[old_salt]

Scrap yard / man if they have any and cast your own.
google casting lead know how.
have a look here:-http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=casting+lead+from+scrap&btnG=Google+Search&oq=casting+lead+from+scrap&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=922l5328l0l8313l10l10l0l7l0l0l156l406l1.2l3l0

 

[prv]

Also no need for plastic encapsulation - lead doesn't rust!

I have a block of it sitting in my bow to help compensate for an oversized engine. The previous owner somehow managed to mould it to fit the shape of the hull. I assume he must have made a very careful mould, rather than pour molten metal into a plastic boat

Pete

 

[PhillM]

Not to worried about the lead rusting but, and I dont know that I am going to be able to epplain this properly, I have a iron keel with mild steel keel bolts and the bolts. The bolts are in a metal tray which forms the keel so I am worried about sitting lead on steel or iron and it corroding. Does that make sense?

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Also no need for plastic encapsulation - lead doesn't rust!

I have a block of it sitting in my bow to help compensate for an oversized engine. The previous owner somehow managed to mould it to fit the shape of the hull. I assume he must have made a very careful mould, rather than pour molten metal into a plastic boat

Pete

Make a plug out of polystyrene and ram in sand, polystyrene riser seemples

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Not to worried about the lead rusting but, and I dont know that I am going to be able to epplain this properly, I have a iron keel with mild steel keel bolts and the bolts. The bolts are in a metal tray which forms the keel so I am worried about sitting lead on steel or iron and it corroding. Does that make sense?

Nope doesn't cause corrosion. How much room do you have? You could use steel punchings, and encapsulate in polyurethane

 

[yoda]

Scrap lead seems to be fetching about £700-£800 per tonne. If you find a supplier consider the price against this. As others have said it's probably worth the effort of making your own and it will also then be exactly the shape you want. You should aalso be able to find somebody to plastic coat if you want to do that. Most roofers will have scrap lead which they will probably sell at the right price, catch them before Christmas as they tend to cash it in for the workers Christmas bonus. (I could also help but I'm in the west country!)

Yoda

Yoda

 

[PhillM]

Thnaks guys, I am going to measure up and then hit the phones / scrapyards to see what I can get. I havent worked out how to case it yet ... (or what i would need to do it) but thats for another day.

Thanks again, all very helpful.

 

[ianat182]

I used to sail in a Wildfire dinghy which had bags of lead shot(250lbs total) inserted into its hollow GRP keel,and removed easily when sailing finished and dinghy loaded on a normal trolley and trailer. If this is a temporary ballasting this option may make its location more flexible; failing this bags of sand might also do the job cheaply.

ianat182

 

[hornidge]

Plastic coated lead

You could try contacting Lumb Bros at the following link. They make their own divers weights encapsulated in plastic and I think will do special orders

www.lumbbros.com

Chris Hornidge

 

[Talulah]

When we built our Roberts 34 we filled the keel with 2.25 tons of Lead.
Most of the lead was sourced from a scrapyard. At that time lots of people were ripping out lead piping and replacing with copper.
To turn the lead piping into ingots we would stick a saucepan on the cooker and just keep adding more and more pieces of lead. Once the pan was almost full of molten lead we would scrape off the muck off the top and allow the pan to cool. Once cold, the pan would be turned over and the pan shaped ingot would fall out.
Once we had a number of these ingots we would line the inside of the keel with some lead pieces the height of the saucepan. About 6".
The ingots (maybe 6 at a time) would be placed in the keel. These would help hold the lead sheet up. We would then pour molten lead to fill in the cavities.
The keel was slowly filled over a number of weeks. Whilst the outside of the keel became very hot we were not concerned.

 

[PhillM]

When we built our Roberts 34 we filled the keel with 2.25 tons of Lead.
Most of the lead was sourced from a scrapyard. At that time lots of people were ripping out lead piping and replacing with copper.
To turn the lead piping into ingots we would stick a saucepan on the cooker and just keep adding more and more pieces of lead. Once the pan was almost full of molten lead we would scrape off the muck off the top and allow the pan to cool. Once cold, the pan would be turned over and the pan shaped ingot would fall out.
Once we had a number of these ingots we would line the inside of the keel with some lead pieces the height of the saucepan. About 6".
The ingots (maybe 6 at a time) would be placed in the keel. These would help hold the lead sheet up. We would then pour molten lead to fill in the cavities.
The keel was slowly filled over a number of weeks. Whilst the outside of the keel became very hot we were not concerned.

Thank youTalulah, I have located a scrap merchant in Southampton (T+G) and will collect the lead in the next week or so. Not sure how to convince my wife that boiling lead on her cooker is a good idea, so will wait until she is out to give it a go. Hopefully she will never know!

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

I have been advised to trim my boat with 100kg lead ballast. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good / reputable supplier. In a perfect world I would want four or five bars, encased in plastic (so they don’t corrode in the bilge) and some way of attaching a strap so they don’t get thrown around.
I assume carriage is also going to be an issue. I am in Hampshire and can collect.

Oh and I don’t want to pay a fortune!

Nor do I want to nick it from the local Church roof !

Any suggestions gratefully received.

a bit late but a word in the right ear in certain pubs wroks wonders.

 

[sarabande]

PhillM - if you have never cast lead before then a suggestion that you never ever pour into a mould that is in any way damp or wet. Water is converted to steam , and you end up with a shower of molten lead all over the kitchen.

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

PhillM - if you have never cast lead before then a suggestion that you never ever pour into a mould that is in any way damp or wet. Water is converted to steam , and you end up with a shower of molten lead all over the kitchen.

the kitchen is the least worrying object

 

[Strathglass]

lead

I just sold some scrap lead today.

Price £30/ cwt

A bit too far away to post.