Lead for ballast

MUS

Member
Joined
4 Jun 2001
Messages
85
Location
Blagdon
www.limboyachts.com
Does anyone know where to get some cheap lead, (apart from a church roof!), with which to de-tenderise my Limbo 6.6, which incidently I note was missed out of November's PBO!

I was thinking that bags of lead shot (about 50-100kg) would be the easiest method of fitting the lead under the floor boards, but am open to any other suggestions. Maybe even concrete would do?
 

ChrisJ

New member
Joined
12 Jul 2004
Messages
7
Location
Newbury, UK
Visit site
I went along to a local scrap merchant chappie when I wanted some lead for a dinghy. I only wanted about 10 Kg, and was quoted a price of £750.

That was because he only sold in tons! After picking myself up off the floor, he said help-youself, then we will work out what 10Kg is when priced at 750 per ton.

The problem was the lead was in many different forms - pipes, sheets and shot. I chose sheets, as they were foldable by hand - while the rest would have needed melting and casting in a pot.

Cheers, Chris
 

deejames

New member
Joined
19 Aug 2004
Messages
52
Location
SW London
Visit site
Try a scrap dealer or suchlike - they get lots of old lead pipe from refurbished plumbing systems. It's not difficult to melt and turn into manageable "ingots". Best way is to get lots of empty beer cans - cut round the top rim with a pair of old scissors - melt the lead in an old saucepan over a gas burner, and pour it into the cans. When cold, strip off the old can, and you have a nice cylindrical ingot.
If you need about 25 ingots, it's probably better to empty the cans on one day, and fill them with lead the next. (Assuming that you're going to empty them on your own !!)

deejames
 

Avocet

Well-known member
Joined
3 Jun 2001
Messages
27,029
Location
Cumbria
Visit site
If you can get a load of lead shot, mix it with catalysed resin and puor the slurry into the bottom of the boat. One word of warning, big volumes of catalysed resin can get very hot when setting!

I had an Evolution 22 a while back which had stainless punchings (the scrap from a stainless washer factory I think) mixed with resin as ballast.
 

claymore

Well-known member
Joined
18 Jun 2001
Messages
10,631
Location
In the far North
Visit site
De-tenderise?
The limbo 6.6 was designed and built to achive a performace specification.This means that one of their characteristics is that they have to be tender in order to achieve their intended performance. If you play around and start loading it up with lead then that perfomance will be compromised. I assume that one of the reasons you bought the boat was for its sailing abilities. Perhaps you should be looking at having the correct sailplan for the prevailing conditions and thinking about the feel of the boat and how that is affected by differing conditions. Once you load it up with lead and, in effect deaden performance, you've also perhaps compromised your insurance status. If you don't like the boat because it is too tender, perhaps a change to a more stable craft might be a better option.
 

MUS

Member
Joined
4 Jun 2001
Messages
85
Location
Blagdon
www.limboyachts.com
I get your point in theory, but don't agree in practise. It seems that the Limbo would prefer a little more weight on board. My particular boat sits very high in the water and with only normally two people on board has to be reefed before F3 is reached, which doesn't seem normal to me. Perhaps tender was an under-statement, as we have had the spreaders in the water at least once this year in pretty benign conditions.

I do agree that more crew on board would be the best solution, to get the weight on the rail but failing this I don't think 50-100kg of lead will deaden the performance.

As you may have guessed I love my Limbo, especially the fact that she behaves like a big dinghy, but I believe that she must be sailed flat which just isn't possible at the moment, without half a rugby team on board!
 
G

Guest

Guest
Have you considered water ballast as an alternative?
A few strategically placed flexible tanks and a pump might work out cheaper and easier to install than lead, and you would be able to reduce weight in light conditions or if carrying a heavier than usual compliment of crew.

just a suggestion.
 

oldharry

Well-known member
Joined
30 May 2001
Messages
9,832
Location
North from the Nab about 10 miles
Visit site
Resin mixed in an ordinary container can suffer thermal runaway, and actually catch fire very quickly. It must be spread out reasonably thinly before setting in order to discharge heat generated. Just pouring half a gallon of mix into a keel void is asking for trouble!
 
Top