Boat is a little Bow Heavy. Big Deal???

[sailingandsuch]

I have a large battery bank (probably to large) in my little 17'er of 210 Ahr. After installing the batteries I noticed that my boat is a little off balance and the bow is probably 1"-2" lower than it used to be, I can tell by the waterline.

I'm wondering how much this is affecting my boat's sailing ability? I'm currently reading a sailing book and the author has talked about while underway he would move ballast to the bow of the boat to raise the stern and create less drag. I wonder if my batteries are helping?

I'm not racing and I don't care to much about getting ever 10th of a knot out of my little boat. But if the low bow has a 1/2 knot effect then I may be concerned.

So what do you think - Is the low bow much of a problem? much of a concern?

 

[WayneH]

Ah, the question you need to answer is "How is my boat trim when I'm in it?" Are you now flat, bow down or stern down? As a cruiser, I would not worry about flat or stern down. I would worry about bow down if it was excessive. But IMO (which means nothing), I would not worry about 1-2" bow down as the live ballast (you) will correct the problem.

 

[whatfiero]

bow heavy

the weight should theoretically make the boat ride better by pushing thru the waves but if ya want to race you need to move all weight to center line of boat for most speed

 

[Bosman]

You should test sail the boat. By adding significant (for this size of boat) ballast to the bow, you have now effectively moved the centre of lateral resistance forward. Question is, where is it now in relation to the centre of effort? You may find, that under heel, further gust of wind will not cause the boat to start turning towards the wind, but rather opposite, which may cause a capsize or potentially dangerous situation.

 

[Capt Gary175]

I agree with WayneH. Captain (and maybe Crew) will more than compensate for a couple of inches of bow down in a small boat.

 

[RichH]

The real answer was give by Wayne ... how's the trim when the cockpit is loaded?

Trimming down by the bow is ONLY good for downwind sailing
Trimming down by the stern enhances 'pointing ability'

Putting any added weight in either 'end' promotes 'hobby-horsing' ... enhances 'plunging' of the bow and stern making them slow to 'react' when in large waves. Added weight in any boat is best located as close to or 'just behind the mast' as possible .. and keeps the 'ends light'.

 

[Ted]

Boat is a little bow heavy

I have to disagree with Bosman a bit. It is true that adding weight in the bow will move the center of lateral resistance forward, however, that will add weather helm. The additional weather helm will make the boat head up into the wind as a gust hits not increase lee helm as suggested. Within reason, it is safer to have excessive weather helm rather than excessive lee helm.

 

[sailingandsuch]

Thanks for the replies!

I will have to get someone to check how the boat sits when the cockpit is loaded with myself.

The batteries are places basically on the port/starboard centerline, but of course forward of the fore/aft centerline.

 

[soldier1964]

once everything else is set correctly, make sure your batteries are oreinted correct. dont want them dying ahead of time.

 

[shemandr]

You've had enough good answers regarding the fore/aft trim.
I just wanted to make the point that even if you're not racing, you'll want to have the boat perform with liveliness. That's fun. Bobbing around isn't. It's a kinetic sport. I just cringe when someone says they'll accept poor performance because they don't race. But its a free country and I know there are the "Ghosters" out there. So have fun - I just think you'll have more of it sailing a responsive boat.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Might check with the designer. I don't know if they do anymore but in the olden days, the designer would study how best to sail the boat and give the owners recommendations. It might be in the owners manual for your boat.
For instance Charley Morgan recommended adding ballast to the bow for his early line of 22, 24, 28, 30 and 34 boats for best performance.
And excessive helm in either direction just means the boat isn't balanced. Steering by tiller shouldn't be a workout.
This surprised me, I'd always heard to keep weight low and central.

 

[sinnettc]

If the weight is a problem you could replace all your lights with LED's and go to one battery.

That's what I did on my Capri 22. One 105ah mounted just forward of the compression post. I can pretty much cruise for a (sunny) week with the solar panel keeping things topped off. My cabin lights (2) draw about .05a each, the 50-LED strip lights (2) I added last year draw .15a each, as do the bow/stern lights. I think the anchor light draws about .10a. Most of the time we use the little cabin lights so I can read for several hours with little effect on the battery. The strip lights are only used when we're looking for something in the v-berth or doing something that really needs some light.

My biggest power sink is the Lowrance fish finder/chart plotter. It draws a bit more than I'd like when it's on full-bright and pinging away, but once we're anchored/moored I turn the brightness down and turn off the depth sounder ping (if we're in deep enough water). That leaves charging the cell phones, vhf radios (12v plug) and laptops (portable inverter) which only happens a couple of times each over the week. I've got a separate folding panel that I'm going to try for the cell phones this year.