Ballast

Calif. Ted · May 13, 2013

Is it possible the PO raised the waterline to compensate for the weight of equipage required for a circumnavigation ?

finding41 · May 13, 2013

Perhaps paint a new waterline 8" below the one now.

shemandr · May 13, 2013

Normally I would say light is good - if you're not circumnavigating. Also on the good side is your waterline should remain nice and clean.
I agree with the above posts that maybe the waterline was determined for a laden vessel. 10 inches is a lot but ....
I don't know how the lack of ballast will affect the sailing characteristics of the boat.
Ballast can be added with lead ingots, lead or steel shot smothered with epoxy, cement or any number of other creative ways. It is a challenge to get a dense enough material, packed tightly enough to make a difference, and 10 inches is a lot - hence the popularity of cast keels, with bulbs.

Merlin Clark · May 13, 2013

Might want to find out what her designed draft is and compare that to where she sits. Adding ballast to adjust to the owner painted waterline would probably turn her into a dog.
I generally paint my waterline 3-4 inches high, to not only compensate for loading but also to keep the hull clean(er) of harbor scuz.

Ross · May 13, 2013

How well does she carry her sails? You can add ballast with sandbags.

Anonymous 121765 · May 14, 2013

I like what Shemandr said about cast iron/steel keels.

When I first bought my C30, I thought the boat was alittle light.
It heeled over in what I thought were too light a wind & would round up a lot.

When I hauled her the first time, I was going over the work order with the yard manager. In comes the yard worker telling me that my keel was leaking water. I told him it was a solid keel. I asked if it was leaking at the joint to the hull. He said no, it was leaking from the middle of the keel. HUH?

My boat was used as a club racer & before that did some Caribbean cruising. Someone cut out a home plate shape thru it at the center, filled it with foam and glassed it over. HUH?

I had it filled with 400 lbs. of lead and epoxy then re-glassed over. Checked with a lot of experts and was told that you don't take out keel weight, you increase sail.

Have you checked to see if weight was cut from your keel?

CR

RichH · May 14, 2013

FWIW - The Nicholson 32 has an 'immersion factor' (how much in inches the waterline will sink into the water per internal added load) at about 800lbs. per inch. 8 inches immersion equates to about 6400 lbs. of carried load. Adding this amount of weight/mass will surely 'sink' the boat deeper and cause a lot of 'struggle' for such a boat to move through the water. Unless the added ballast is added near the 'center of rotation', usually near and behind the mast and on the centerline, usually directly under the 'combined CE' and kept out of the bow/stern, such an added load is surely going to increase severe 'pitching' or 'hobby-horsing' --- the bow and stern are going to 'plunge' deeply when in big waves. Rx: keep the boat 'light', forget the added ballast. Added weight does NOTHING for the sailing characteristics of an already well designed sailboat 99% of the time.

Old Skool Neil · May 14, 2013

I suggest finding out exactly where the designed waterline is supposed to be rather than going off a pretty painted stripe before doing anything ballast-wise. Ten inches is a big discrepancy so something is really wrong here, hopefully the paint job.

higgs · May 14, 2013

Your Avatar looks to have a high waterline, but it is difficult to tell with such a small photo. Google your boat and look for photos so you can compare where the boat sits.

JohnShannon · May 14, 2013

Going off Rich maybe you lost 6400 lbs? Doesn't seem likely, have you sailed the boat? Do you need to reef at 6 knts of windspeed?

bffatcat · May 16, 2013

waterline

Listen to Rich H and old school Neil Look at line drawings of the boat contact the designer if possible. I would be very careful about modifying a boats design.