T&T: Ballast

[Brent Hodges]

From: <Truelove39 at aol.com>

> Have friends over. Position as many as needed to achieve desired trim.

> Build as many wooden boxes as needed to achieve the required  weight and
> affix them to the hull. Fill with cement. (endsnip)

>> Our boat, Aqua Vitae, is a 43' Albin Classic trunk style trawler.  One of
> the things that we've always loved about her is the flare of her bow,
> and the way she takes head seas (she parts them, like Moses!) But at
> anchor or at the dock she has a tendency to be bow down on her 
> lines.(endsnip)

Odd, but my Albin 43 Sundeck model sits stern down, or at least it looks 
that way. That's according to the waterline (which I already raised at the 
stern by about 3 inches) and the lapstrakes in the hull. I have a rope rode 
in place of chain (for now) and the original 300 gallons of water tanks 
under the berth in the aft cabin. I can tell how much water is in my tanks 
just by looking at my swim platform, and how high it is out of the water! Do 
I remember that you removed the original water tanks and replaced them with 
smaller ones? I could have been someone else.................

I think I've told this story before, but in my previous life I remodeled and 
refurbished houseboats. The only way I knew of to get the side to side trim 
perfect (after moving hw tanks, water tanks, holding tanks, moveable 
equipment, etc) was to lay the concrete paver blocks (Look like concrete 
blocks, but flat with no holes) down the side of the hull, and block in 
where they couldn't move. This never set right with me, as it felt like 
cheating. Well, a buddy was having a new, large houseboat built by one of 
the largest and most respected manufacturers in Kentucky, where most of them 
are built. I went with him to help with the interior layout and design. I 
watched the designers layout everything with a Cad program, looking for the 
point where they did some sort of weight / balance measurments to check the 
trim. I didn't see any, so I ask the "engineer" how they made sure it set 
right in the water. He said, "Simple, we sit it in the water and add 
concrete blocks as needed."!! I guess I was more professional than I 
thought!  :o)

In my digging around in my current boat over the years, I found some large 
lead "pigs" on the outboard of one of the outboard most stringers. Don't 
know if that was a factory thing or not. After rearrangeing the Salon, and 
battery bank, I had to move them to the opposite side of the boat to get it 
back level.

Brent Hodges
Friendship
43 Albin Sundeck
currently lying Taylor Bayou, just outside of Port Arthur.
I'll be back in my home slip tonight! Damnit.