Re: P-15 Ballast

james nolan (nolan_laboratories@email.msn.com)
Wed, 16 Jun 1999 15:51:13 -0600


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Why not just cast a new keel out of lead and put a steel sleeve in it to go
arount the keel pin? You could make the keel a little thicker too.
Jim Nolan

-----Original Message-----
From: TillyLucy@aol.com <TillyLucy@aol.com>
To: wwpotter@tscnet.com <wwpotter@tscnet.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 11:29 PM
Subject: P-15 Ballast

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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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>Netfriends,
>
>I am going to apologize in advance for the tone of this message - I am
>feeling very cranky and have been snapping at perfectly nice people all
day.
>
>The two concrete blocks that I _removed_ from the bilges of my P-15 are
>available to anyone who wants to come by and pick them up - I'll even throw
>in some free beer and conversation for your trouble.
>
>I think that trying to turn a dinghy like the P-15 into a dwarf keelboat is
>something of a fruitless exercise. Generally speaking, lightness in boats
>means good performance. On a P-15, tell yourself you have "smart" ballast -
>YOU - you move your weight to where it best balances the boat. With fixed
>ballast arranged symetrically around the center line, half of it is always
on
>the "wrong" side (this isn't quite true, since the center of buoyancy
doesn't
>stay in the center, but bear with me on this). High zoot ocean racers spend
>big bucks on high tech water ballast systems that pump the water from one
>side to the other depending which tack they're on. They feed and indulge
huge
>crews of "rail meat" to move back and forth so they can ballast their
>offshore boat just like your P-15 came from the factory.
>
>Love the boat the way it is - don't try and turn it into poor imitation of
a
>Flicka. All this talk about adding bags of this and that make me nervous -
>Try and picture what all that loose, heavy stuff is going to do to your
boat
>if you get knocked down or turtled, not to mention what happens every time
>the trailer goes over a nasty bump.
>
>I will admit that I have a 2.5 gallon Igloo thing that I fill with water
and
>secure to the forepeak sometimes if I am going out with 2 or more people
>(myself included) in the cockpit. The extra 20 lbs or so in the bow helps a
>little to balance the weight of all the folks in the cockpit. I tell myself
>that water, at least, will have neutral buoyancy if we get swamped. It's
also
>nice to have some fresh water aboard for coffee, soup, etc. 50 lbs of kitty
>litter, or chain, or lead, or sand will not have neutral buoyancy and some
>flotation should be added (and secured, since it won't do much good if it
>floats out of the boat) to ensure that the boat remains "unsinkable"
>
>Folks have fretted over how the Potters can fill with water and become
>immobile (but not sink) after an accident such as capsize. This month's
>Latitude 38 has an interesting story on the alternative - what it takes to
>get a boat off the bottom should it sink. It sounds like a great deal more
>trouble and expense! Even a boat that is only down for a day or two will
>begin to fill with mud. I'm still trying to scheme up a sure-fire way to
pump
>out one's own boat should it swamp so as to not be dependant on the
kindness
>of others (who may not be around) in the event of a capsize.
>
>My experience is that the P-15 sails best when least lightly loaded - it
>always seems to perform better when I sail it alone. I like having crew,
but
>it does seen to slow the boat down a little and with three people aboard
she
>is slower still. Adding weight low and in the center will make for a more
>stable "platform" , less affected by those aboard, but it will be tough to
>convince me that additional weight will make the boat sail better.
>
>Now stepping off the soapbox......
>
>Dave Kautz
>P-15 #1632 Tilly Lucy
>Palo Alto, CA
>