PocketShip.net

John C. Harris wrote:There's exactly 107.6 pounds of lead cast into the keel. A minimum of 160 pounds should be under the floorboards. Total 270-ish.

How about lengthening the keel enough to place all of the ballast in the keel? With all of the ballast down low, perhaps slightly less lead could be used. Also, would the addition of a battery forward of bulkhead 2 as you have done reduce the need for additional ballast?

>>>>>>How about lengthening the keel enough to place all of the ballast in the keel? With all of the ballast down low, perhaps slightly less lead could be used. Also, would the addition of a battery forward of bulkhead 2 as you have done reduce the need for additional ballast/>>>>>>>>>>>



You'd have to make the keel chord fatter, which would make the boat slower. So that's definitely out. Making the keel deeper would make trailering unfun. You can't put more lead aft of where it's already placed, or the boat will squat with the crew in the cockpit.

Inside ballast has a long history and that's the way to go. The only other option would be to make the centerboard out of solid steel, something I contemplated seriously at the design stage. That looks great on paper, but it's hard to build unless you happen to own an acetylene torch. Then there's the problem of raising and lowering a 150-pound board. The engineering is nontrivial and I spent much of a summer working as a rigger crawling in bilges replacing broken pendants on boats with heavy centerboards.

The battery helps, no doubt. I noticed that the boat's very slight stern-down trim (about 1/2") was corrected with the battery in place.

Having talked to a number of tire shops in Boulder, I've been told that not many tire weights they use these days are made of Lead. Have you heard this? Can other materials still melt down?

It may be true that newer wheel weights are not lead but the ones you are going to get at a tire shop are coming off of old tires and my experience was that they are mostly lead. I bought a 5 gallon pail of old wheel weights in the spring. I'm guessing the pail weighed at least 130 lbs and after melting I had more than the required 107.6 lbs of lead. Any of the newer non-lead weights and other junk in the pail did not melt and floated on top of my melting kettle. I was actually surprised how little non-lead I had to throw out. Now, in a couple of years , the situation could be totally different.

John C. Harris wrote:Next time I'm near a quiet dock I'll try to capsize the boat with a halyard led from the masthead...

Perhaps there will be an opportunity to give it a try at OkoumeFest 2010. Wish I was there!