We have just purchased an unfinished 44 in Quebec City, and I have a number of questions for this august group. The first involves ballasting the boat. The hull was built very close to the original plans, which did not specify the amount or placement of ballast. This is probably because individual owners may have equipment/layouts that influence the total amount required. But even a general range would be very helpful. Her previous owner has been summer cruising with her interior unfinished. He had ~1500 lb of scrap lead in her bilges. The mechanic who works on the boat says that it's not enough, and when we did the sea trial her waterline was at least 8" out of the water. Does anyone have a displacement table/curve that would tell me how much ballast is required to drop her an inch? Can anyone with a 44 give me an indication of how much ballast they've added?
While the boat is laid up this winter we're planning on having the box keel cut open and have the lead cast into blocks than can be secured in the interior space (she was set up for keel cooling with the original engine, but that was disconnected when the owner went to a larger engine). This will clear the interior bilges, which now have chips, sheets, lumps, and chunks of lead rattling around in them, and make bilge maintenance much easier. However, the process will be costly and I'll only want to do it once. So I'd like to try and get the ballast weight as close to optimal as possible. I realize that we will have to trim her out after launching her and filling the tanks, but I'd hate to go through all of this and then find out we should have put another 2500 pounds of lead in the keel while we had the chance.
Many thanks,
Ric
martini@maui.net

Just an update for anyone interested. We removed the wooden mast and hauled the boat, which is now in a work shed (heated) for the winter. En route we got a weight on the boat and a weight on the ballast. There was 1700lb of lead bits and pieces in the bilge, which we have removed; the boat, with nothing in the tanks and no gear aboard and the aft cabin unfinished, was weighed (2 different times) at 60,000 pounds. Our plan now is to complete the boat, launch her, fill the tanks, see where she sets, and check the metacentrics before doing anything about ballast.
We're making headway; battery banks are going in, genset is in, bow thruster is being installed now; aircons are at the site. Slowly catchee monkee. But there's a lot to do by spring....
Regards to all,
Ric

Randal,

Thanks for the info. I'm familiar with the book and George. I own The Troller Yacht Book which is how I found seahorse when they were just starting on the 44s.

My reading plate is pretty full right now (I have a three year old and a five year old at home). So I feel good when I can finish a newspaper cover page in one sitting. So I was looking for the Cliff Notes version.



Hugh

George is speaking of his "Buehler's Back Yard Boatbuilding" book. I don't have a copy with me here in the Philippines but they are readily available from Amazon. Try: http://www.amazon.com/Buehlers-Backyard-Boatbuilding-Ge...id=1189307598&sr=8-2
Or just search by Gerorge Buehler at Amazon.

Randal Johnson

Hey George!

Hope all is well. For those of us that don't have your building book could you post the quote, or a brief synopsis?


Thanks.


Hugh

I HAD to answer this one...... Cutting the keel and adding lead is RIDICULOUS!!!! Plese read trhe section in my Building Book about inside ballast.
Regarding the waterline. The DWL is the intersection of the chine and rabbet at the bow, and the intersection of the rabbet and transom at the stern. It will probably sit several inches low at the stern. Ballast from the bow back to make it sit "level" as possible.
And then, stop making a big deal out of things! Oh, and re-read the first paragraph above.....

George

Don and Margie, that's really interesting, and Ruth and Randall it must have been like the fires of Mordor. As to the sail rig, she's not going to have one initially but we will be adding one after we finish canal cruising to the ICW.
This boat has tankage for 700g fuel, 150 water, 50 graywater, and 150 blackwater. If all were full we'd be carrying 4t in tankage, a bit less than 3t in fuel. That'd mean the 'experts' would advise 1.5t of ballast, versus the .75t she has now. So perhaps we will double the existing ballast and see how we do. As a cross-check, if I read the website info correctly the 462-7 that was accepting 2t of ballast displaces ~33t vs our displacement of ~23t. On a strictly proportional basis, that'd mean 1.4t for us. That's pretty close, all things considered.
Many thanks for the comments and assistance.
Ric

I watched SHM ballast 462-7 over a period of days. There was a hole cut in the bilge and the 4,000 pounds of lead was melted in a big iron kettle, a few hundred pounds at a time. I guess the fire under the kettle was kept going 24 hours a day.
The roof was off the pilot house so it was easy for a crane to pick up the kettle of molten lead and ease it down through the pilot house into the engine room where a worker carefully tilted it into the keel.
Robert I have pictures somewhere of the lead stacked up before melting. SHM only ballast boats that have the motor sailer option.


Randal Johnson

Hi Ric...I have no experience at all with your design and I can see your dilema....but as a rule of thumb if it is an issue of seakeeping ?? some "experts"...(which can mean they are simply a "drip under Pressure!")...suggest it is a good idea to have ballast equivalent to half the weight of your Max. Fuel weight, no matter what the design of the boat?? There are some reasonable reasons to consider this as a maximum if nothing else.??

Dear Dean,
I did contact George, who said that most of these boats sit low, and the heavy construction serves as ballast weight and lead isn't often used. So that's why I was hoping to contact someone who has done some ballasting experimentation with this design.
Glad you are happy with your new boat! We've got some work ahead of us, but we're looking forward to getting it done and getting her underway. If we have to do the ballast experiments ourselves, I will post the results when we're done (probably next spring).
Smooth waters,
Ric

Ric. My name is Dean Phelps and I am the proud new owner of the just completed SEAHORSE 382-3, JUBILEE. I am familiar with your new boat and in fact considered it for myself prior to contacting SEAHORSE and contracting with them for my new 382. George Buehler, the designer, originally had a listing for your boat on his website. I think that he would be the best source of informaton regarding you ballasting questions.
Dean