Tempest 23 - Excess/supplemental ballast needed?

[hangin]

I just purchased my first Tempest 23, 1970 Canadian build. I am curious as the compartments under the V-berth and in the bilge areas has many pure lead "bricks" what I am guessing totalling ~350-400 lbs. I did check that they were not gold bullion in disguise...unfortunately not.

Is there a "known" need for supplementing the standard ballast or may that have been done because it had been sailed in a real blowy area? I will be sailing her in the Annapolis/Chesapeake area.

Thanks as always for the comments.

 

[Sunbird22358]

That sound more like "trim ballast", trying to get the bow lower to compensate for a lot of weight in the cockpit. Ballast under the V-berth doesn't seem like it would be low enough in the hull to really improve stability. I'd say remove it and see what happens, the TEMPEST had a cast-iron keel (1250#), externally bolted-on and that seems like it should have been enough ballast to keep her upright unless a previous owner enlarged the rig? Extra ballast also reduces the effectiveness of any flotation foam, since the boat now weighs more and lead doesn't float.

Any TEMPEST owners have advice? Did O'DAY include a collection of Lead ingots to serve as trim-ballast? Or was this "owner-added"? The 1968 Sales brochure that I found on-line only lists the iron ballast, no lead.

PS: I think all of the TEMPESTs were built for O'Day by a Canadian builder.