Ballast

Bernard Johnson (slithytove@earthlink.net)
Tue, 15 Jun 1999 17:23:21 -0700


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hey, Got to thinking again. The kitty litter idea is OK but it is not
all that dense. Maybe pure sand might be better? (Also cheaper). Scrap
iron could be used if properly secured, and at approx. 7 times the
density of water, very effective. Of course weight is weight, no matter
what form it comes in, the limiting factor being how much room do you
want to give up (and also the necessity of keeping the center of gravity
of whatever mass you add, as low as possible. Plain old bricks are just
over twice as heavy as water, i guess one could add say 20 bricks at
about 5 lbs. each to either side of the keel trunk, approx. 200lb.
ballast. (Of course SECURED WELL). I am going to experiment with
something like this to see the effect on stability. There should be a
marked improvement. The ballast could also be biased toward the bow to
improve handling.

Bernie.