Concrete ballast put into a 260 ballast tank
- Thread starter Crazy Dave Condon
- Start date
Yes! You probably couldn't plan on selling this boat to anybody in the future. But, considering some of the boat buying inquiries we see, you never know!
Somebody owns a water ballast boat and decides water ballast maybe isn't what they want. Motives are usually a personal matter. Some people like to experiment.
Yep.. if you need to modify a boat that much.. you bought the wrong boat in the first place.
If you were willing to basically burn the boat when done and figured out how to anchor that concrete so that it didnt move and just put in enough concrete to weigh the same as the water, it would result in the boats center of gravity being a couple inches lower (guess but probably not that far off) than you would have with water. Water ballast boat are best sailed relatively flat and when sailed flat, you probably would notice very little difference between the stock boat and the concrete modified boat. In high winds where you get the boat up to a higher heel, the concrete would have a slightly higher righting moment because of the slightly lower CG.
But then you damaged one of the features that boat does well and part of the reason people buy them - they are light to trailer.
If you were willing to basically burn the boat when done and figured out how to anchor that concrete so that it didnt move and just put in enough concrete to weigh the same as the water, it would result in the boats center of gravity being a couple inches lower (guess but probably not that far off) than you would have with water. Water ballast boat are best sailed relatively flat and when sailed flat, you probably would notice very little difference between the stock boat and the concrete modified boat. In high winds where you get the boat up to a higher heel, the concrete would have a slightly higher righting moment because of the slightly lower CG.
But then you damaged one of the features that boat does well and part of the reason people buy them - they are light to trailer.
Scott;
I can speak on the 260 too well. Dry weight is 3000 and displacement is 5000 thus you have a water ballast of 2000 in the tank. Like I said originally it is a question seeking responses but not going to reveal why I am asking or posting this. I got a good laugh when asked a question that. The boat was designed specifically for water ballast only, not to add anything else. That is where I leave it but some comments are all too funny.
I can speak on the 260 too well. Dry weight is 3000 and displacement is 5000 thus you have a water ballast of 2000 in the tank. Like I said originally it is a question seeking responses but not going to reveal why I am asking or posting this. I got a good laugh when asked a question that. The boat was designed specifically for water ballast only, not to add anything else. That is where I leave it but some comments are all too funny.
Anyone with any imagination would fill the tank with lead buckshot instead of concrete.
Please don't try this at home, I'm being facetious.
Please don't try this at home, I'm being facetious.
Or the soluble compounds lead nitrate or mecurous nitrate.... then as the lead and mercury leached out of the ballast tank valve, you would also solve your bottom growth issues....
(Also being facetious)..
Well, you seemed to raise the question. I was curious about the volume of ballast and it doesn't appear easy to find. Does Hunter publish the volume of ballast in gallonage? It should be 240 gallons (at 2,000 pounds). I saw the sailboat data indicating 2,000 pounds but I wasn't sure that the centerboard also might have weight to include as ballast. I agree that at 240 gallons of tank volume, injecting concrete would be a significant overload.
As ligititous as our society has gotten, then there are reasons why I posed only in the form of a question. Use to be and insurance investigator and for 10 years handled a litigation department before becoming a sailboat dealer.
The centerboard weighs only 100 lbs. or so. It doesn't really add ballast. Hell, I could put my ex-wife in the bilge and add 10 times the ballast.
That would be 10x100. And I was kidding about using her as ballast. She's not welcome anywhere near my boat.
