Simple ballast for day boat?

sarabande said:
The best material is depleted uranium, and it has the advantage that it is self-drying and keeps your feet warm.
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A pedant writes ...

Depleted uranium - typically 99.7% U238 - is actually not very radioactive at all. The dust is a bit nasty, as are most heavy metal dusts - but the hysteria so often seen about the solid metal is a sad reflection on the state of science education. In my youth I went to see a travelling exhibition about nuclear power, put on by the Science Museum. It included a nice big chunk of DU which you could pick up and handle. Try doing that nowadays ...
 
JumbleDuck said:
A pedant writes ...

Depleted uranium - typically 99.7% U238 - is actually not very radioactive at all. The dust is a bit nasty, as are most heavy metal dusts - but the hysteria so often seen about the solid metal is a sad reflection on the state of science education. In my youth I went to see a travelling exhibition about nuclear power, put on by the Science Museum. It included a nice big chunk of DU which you could pick up and handle. Try doing that nowadays ...
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What about approaching the B of E for the loan of some gold bullion. Nice and heavy! Completely inert as well.
 
Colvic Watson said:
I want to put in about 75kg of ballast to increase the stability.
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Beg pardon Colvic...somebody on page one here, did ask whether the whole idea is wise or not, but I'm not sure if there was a reply.

I thought seriously about making a second centreboard with lots of lead in the bottom end, to improve my upwind sailing...

...until someone here pointed out that ballast isn't any benefit unless the boat is heeling far beyond any measure of efficient sailing.

I daresay you're aiming to make the Bass Boat very secure on a boisterous mooring, but wouldn't there be a tried and tested manufacturer's answer to your question, if said cavity was intended for that purpose?
 
dancrane said:
Beg pardon Colvic...somebody on page one here, did ask whether the whole idea is wise or not, but I'm not sure if there was a reply.

I thought seriously about making a second centreboard with lots of lead in the bottom end, to improve my upwind sailing...

...until someone here pointed out that ballast isn't any benefit unless the boat is heeling far beyond any measure of efficient sailing.

I daresay you're aiming to make the Bass Boat very secure on a boisterous mooring, but wouldn't there be a tried and tested manufacturer's answer to your question, if said cavity was intended for that purpose?
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Ballast in a centre board will improve stability by increasing the weight of the boat so when she heels even a little the centre of buoyancy moves out to the side. She sits up on the chine. So mass of the boat centred on the centre line will provide a righting moment equal to the distance centre line to centre of buoyancy. (chine). Think catamaran here.
This is why ballast under the floor will enhance stiffness. However ballast on the tip of the keel will in the same way enhance initial stiffness but as well will give a great righting moment when greatly heeled. ie at 90 degrees of heel (mast in the water) the righting moment will be at its best.
So if OP is looking for stiffness. (resistance to heeling) ballast under the floor is useful. The lower the better so lead is better. Lead on the keel tip is even better. Whether OP thinks the cost of lead is justified compared to gravel well that is for him to decide. I would go lead I think. Make it removable as he might want to experiment on performance with and without. As said a body on the windward gunwhale is the best ballast. But so difficult to manage. olewill
 
john_morris_uk said:
What about approaching the B of E for the loan of some gold bullion. Nice and heavy! Completely inert as well.
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9780002212700-uk-300.jpg
 
DownWest said:
I was always surprised that his books were not made into movies. Several good tales, like High Citadal and others.
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I have never been convinced about the originality of Desmond Bagley's work. "Landslide", for example, is largely a rip-off of Hammond Innes's "Campbell's Kingdom"
 
I do not know if you are familiar with Doug Jackson who is building SV Seeker (You Tube channel of same name) - but he needed a shed load of lead ballast and over the course of a few years he collected scrap lead balance weights from tyre shops. He melted them down into pigs.

Thread drift it is a fantastic story - https://youtu.be/lcKn6N0SHV0
 
NormanB said:
I do not know if you are familiar with Doug Jackson who is building SV Seeker (You Tube channel of same name) - but he needed a shed load of lead ballast and over the course of a few years he collected scrap lead balance weights from tyre shops. He melted them down into pigs.

Thread drift it is a fantastic story - https://youtu.be/lcKn6N0SHV0
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Offer to clean out the backstop for the local gun club.
 
Anyone got a rough idea of the ballast required for a 27ft ships lifeboat conversion ??

The only figures I can find are for a 36ft lifeboat, and that was 3000 lbs. The sand bags that were in the boat when salvaged, (I bought a sunken wreck for one pound), were punctured, but a rough guess was around labs for the original conversion was 1200 lbs based on the bags that were aboard.

Present plan is to add a galvanised steel beam and rub rails on either side, then do a tilt test to figure out the extra internal ballast figure, BUT if I decide not to bother with that part of the conversion, I will need to figure out how much internal ballast to use. Lead is too expensive and as the hull is aluminium, un galvanised steel or iron is a no go. Looking at storage heater bricks or bags of stones at present.
 
sunquest said:
I bought old lead sheet from a scrap yard, washed it, folded it and hammered into ingot shape job done so much cheaper than lead shot.
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I had to find 4 ton of lead.

I used sheet roofing lead from scrap metal dealers and I did a deal with tyre fitters for their scrapped wheel weights. I melted them down in a cast iron pot and poured the molten lead into compartmentalized steel channel section.

For 75kg it would cost very little .
 
Ric said:
How about bottles of wine or beer? High density, clean, can be moved, holds value. Obviously you wouldn't want to drink any of it as it is purely for ballast...
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That's what I use but it does need frequent adjustment. Newcastle brown and merlot rather than lager and prosecco.
 
coopec said:
I had to find 4 ton of lead.

I used sheet roofing lead from scrap metal dealers and I did a deal with tyre fitters for their scrapped wheel weights. I melted them down in a cast iron pot and poured the molten lead into compartmentalized steel channel section.

For 75kg it would cost very little .
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I'm going to need a source of lead, I hadnt thought of wheel weights.
 
Someone made a simple mould for lead weights for lobster pots. Piece of angle iron, not sure what he stopped the ends with, he had his initials in it. Anyway, nice triangular section fits in many ways.
 
I didn't worry too much about getting the channel section absolutely horizontal as a result I ended up with many wedge shaped "ingots" which made it easy to fit into irregular shaped keel. When place in the keel it would be close to a solid block of lead.
 
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