Oceanis 352 Leans left...

[KennyBene]

Why does my boat list to port when at anchor?

A friend tells me "they all do that" and another friend's 361 (same build year- 1999) seems to lean a little bit to port.

There's a water tank on port side aft but it is empty. House batts (2- 4gm's) are mounted starboard aft. Fuel tank is centered as is the forward water tank.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

 

[pateco]

My Hunter 31 always leans a little to starboard. Batteries, fuel tank, galley, and head are all starboard, but water tank is to port. With water tank full she is almost level, but not quite. Thinking of adding another bank of batteries on the port side.

 

[FastOlson]

Normal for many makes and models, especially lighter displacement vessels. Placement of interior furniture and status of tankage is the usual cause. Sometimes you can blame the PO... if he/she added some heavy batteries on what was already the "heavy side"...

 

[helmfam]

I noticed my B 373 doing that. Then realized my holding tank was getting full. Pumped out and it was much improved.

 

[stevemitchell]

My Beneteau 311 has a list to starboard - 1 to 2 degrees depending on how full we are. It drives me absolutely insane walking belowdecks, and I feel like my body is compensating all the time. It's good to hear that this is not abnormal for this general type of Beneteau. I did add some more batteries and other weight to that side, but it listed a bit even before then, I just made it worse

 

[reworb]

We also have a 311 that lists to starboard. I attributed it to the previous owner placing (moving) the 2 house batteries to outboard in starboard lazerette. The previous owner also placed some lead ingots in various places on the port side. That helps somewhat but the list is still noticeable if you look at the mast.
I guess I'll have to stop being concerned as this is a "design feature" from Beneteau

 

[Gunni]

The list is imposed by poor weight distribution, usually by owners stuffing too much gear into a boat with lots of space but designed to sail light. It is worth the time to get it right because with a list the boat will exhibit odd sailing characteristics depending on which tack you are on. You also want to be careful about putting too much weight aft, it brings the bow high and further screws with the designer's sail handling plan. I fixed a 2d list by moving my batteries to new quarters close to the keel. The boat sails noticeably better.

 

[stevemitchell]

We also have a 311 that lists to starboard. I attributed it to the previous owner placing (moving) the 2 house batteries to outboard in starboard lazerette. The previous owner also placed some lead ingots in various places on the port side. That helps somewhat but the list is still noticeable if you look at the mast.
I guess I'll have to stop being concerned as this is a "design feature" from Beneteau

I added a battery in the starboard lazarette as well which added some more weight, but my boat listed even without batteries on board in that area, and without equipment there. I met another 311 owner who had the same challenge. It's definitely not "owners stuffing lots of stuff in the wrong place" - the boat has a natural list to starboard as far as I can tell.

I had considered adding some counterweights on the port side - perhaps I will revisit this.

 

[Gunni]

The Beneteau311 is a very light boat for it's size and volume, 8,000 lbs, and it has a low ballast to displacement ratio, 30%. If you use ABYC recommendations for load capacity it would be about 1,200lbs. About what my RIB carries. Any extra batteries, lead bricks, tools, ground tackle, etc take away from that or mess with the balance depending on where the weight is placed. With light ballast the boat will be more sensitive to poorly distributed weight. This is a common problem in many of the newer light ballast boats. So if you are looking to balance it out, don't just think of adding weight like some old square-rigger, remove weight and replace it with properly located weight and maybe less of it.

 

[stevemitchell]

So if you are looking to balance it out, don't just think of adding weight like some old square-rigger, remove weight and replace it with properly located weight and maybe less of it.

I would love to remove weight such as the batteries in the laz, but removing one battery means I have a super tiny battery bank which likely would make the boat unusable even for a single overnight with everything shut off or minimized.

The bigger flaw with my model of 311 is the massive lazarette on the starboard side which is my only storage of any volume, and only storage outdoors other than the anchor locker. Anything and everything goes into this space, and that adds weight of course. On the port side is the master berth under the cockpit, so there is very little weight in there, and very little storage underneath which could be used to counterbalance things. Building any sort of structure there would make that berth unusable, which isn't an option.

Other options like giving up all of the space under the port setee down below and mounting batteries there would be cost prohibitive or even impossible - the wire runs alone would be insane - and would remove a lot of storage down below.

I always try to reduce the amount of things we take out on the water in terms of weight and size - both because of the list but also just sheer weight - having that anywhere on the boat regardless of location simply adds more that you have to push through the water, and slows you down in some way.

 

[KennyBene]

Thanks for all the comments- I've concluded that there's too much weight in the port lazarette (dinghy, fender boards, etc., there's too much water in the tank just forward of the laz and worst of all, there's too much beer in my fridge!

I plan to deal with #1 and #2 as best I can...

Happy sailing!

 

[stevemitchell]

Thanks for all the comments- I've concluded that there's too much weight in the port lazarette (dinghy, fender boards, etc., there's too much water in the tank just forward of the laz and worst of all, there's too much beer in my fridge!

I plan to deal with #1 and #2 as best I can...

Happy sailing!

I'm sure we all could help with the beer if you tell us where you are

 

[Gunni]

Removing two big 4D FLA aft and replacing them with AGMs under the saloon seating was exactly how I got my 411 back on her lines. The wiring expense was nominal and because I now had my batteries in one location they charge evenly. It also gave me the excuse to remove a heavy inverter that I never used. I'm currently focused on whittling down my tools, I have three tool boxes and a scattering of power tools. Maybe a bit much.

You guys think this is a problem, you should see some of the nonsense that goes on aboard the cruising cats where people fill the cavernous space with all sorts of detritus. One guy told me about how fast his cat was and I ended up sailing circles around his lumbering self.

 

[JRacer]

My Beneteau 311 has a list to starboard - 1 to 2 degrees depending on how full we are. It drives me absolutely insane walking belowdecks, and I feel like my body is compensating all the time. It's good to hear that this is not abnormal for this general type of Beneteau. I did add some more batteries and other weight to that side, but it listed a bit even before then, I just made it worse

My 310 does the same. PO put two 50# sand bags on the port side. One up under the settee at the forward end of the salon and the other under the aft berth boards. I'm in the process of redistributing "stuff" to try to eliminate those counterweights. And, yes, the starboard side lazarette is a part of the problem. Batteries are centrally located under the steps.

 

[reworb]

Our 311 has very little gear in it, we just use it for day sailing and we keep it on our own dock behind the house so we don't have much on it other than life vest, light jackets et al.. I replaced the house batteries a few days ago. When I removed the 2 house batteries and before I installed the new ones the boat still listed to starboard. I wish I knew what I could move around.

 

[Gunni]

How many water tanks on the 311 and where are they located? What are your house battery types and where are they located?

 

[reworb]

One water tank located center-line in the bow. The house bank consists of 2 group 27 located in the starboard lazzerette. That is not the (at least according to manual) factory setup. From the factory the boat had (at least according to the manual) 2 total batteries (including the engine start) located in the front of the engine "bay". The engine start battery is still located in the original spot.

 

[Gunni]

So one possible solution would be to make the engine bay your house battery (2xGp27 or even Gp 31) and add a small starter battery behind the engine as your emergency start. I do think having them in the starboard laz is unhelpful. They need to be both inboard AND closer to the keel.

Maine Sail provided some suggestions for smaller start batteries here:
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/smallest-starter-battery.185267/#post-1373074

PC925, PC1100, PC1200

 

[reworb]

That is a good idea, I'm just a little hesitate about monkeying with the battery wiring as it does not match whats in the manual as the previous owner totally modified it to something odd and unsafe (something the surveyor totally missed) . I had that fixed by a marine electrician and a "charge coupler" installed. Without a proper diagram I think I would have to tear out the entire battery wiring (batteries, battery charger, alternator and charge coupler) and start afresh. Maybe when it cools off and the humidity decreases I should do that. Just too hot at least for the next 4 months to undertake such a project, and paying for such a thing would be cost prohibitive.

 

[Dean Thomas]

As mentioned up-thread, the B361 can also end up with a slight list, although ours is usually to port and aft. I think in our case, it is that crazy large port lazarette, which encourages all sorts of irresponsible storage. I cleaned ours out a couple years back and could not believe all the stuff I myself had put in there. To help with the aft list, I filled one of those blue 5-gallon emergency water jugs and placed it as far in the front of the anchor locker as it would go. It's out of the way, but if we ever accidentally run out of fresh water while cruising, I know it's up there. As for the port list, that one is a bit tougher. The house batteries are under the aft berth on the port side, so I'm going to eventually rewire those and move the set under the forward starboard settee, which should help. Other than that, we try to reduce the amount of unneeded gear in the port lazarette, and then we just live with it.