Lead Balast to trim a boat

[clayton]

Has anyone ever had the experience or heard of anyone who purchased a new boat that came with 250 lbs of lead on the starboard hull to offset a port list ?

[paulk]

Lots of possible reasons for this. Boat may have been designed for an icebox portside. You opt for refrigeration, and it changes the numbers. Perhaps the NA figured on a chain locker, and you use line instead. Fuel and/or water tanks may have been shifted a squinch in actual construction in order to get a hose by somewhere. Or the guy calculating the numbers two years ago got a speeding ticket that morning put a couple of numbers for one or more items in the wrong column, so they boat doesn''t really "add up" the way they thought. If you really want to go wild about this, you can check to make sure the keel isn''t canted to one side. Overall, if a few hunks of lead -- solidly secured -- leave the boat floating on her lines, you''re O.K.

[Jeff_H]

Trim ballast was pretty common in boats at one time. But, that said, there are a number of problems placing the concentrated loads of lead ballast just against the hull. F.G. hulls are really not designed for high concentrated loads for long periods of time. Areas where large concentrated loads are imposed are generally strengthened to prevent localized fatigue. The other concern that I would have is with condensation that would form between the lead and the hull and which might keep the glass at an elevated moisture level and which might then cause blistering and/ delamination.

Jeff