Ballast

[Neil Quinn]

Owned our boat (GRP cruiser) for about 6 weeks now & not doing to badly apart from mooring. I keep making a complete hash of things when trying to park between my two neighbouring boats. My mate suggested that some ballast will help with the steering & the previous owner did have some brass weights in the bow storage area.
Can anyone give me a pointer as to how much ballast I should be using? Thanks in advance & there's a pic of the boat below, which does show the bow sitting a bit too high.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/NeilQuinn/Ballast.jpg

Edited June 21, 2014 by Neil Quinn

[RLWP]

You problem is more likely to be that you have only owned the boat for six weeks

 

It took us ages to get the hang of mooring up

 

Richard

[Phil Ambrose]

Richard is right we had our last boat (40 X 12 GRP Cruiser) for 10 years and mooring up just takes time and practice, ballast will have no effect.

Phil

[Guest]

Is it powered by an outboard motor? If so is there a rudder on the outboard? Makes a huge difference to slow speed handling.

 

Try a bag of sand if you are concerned about ballast. A cheap way of proving the point. Worked on D.C.'s Bluebird K7.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Guest

[Alan Saunders]

Much depends on your (previous?) experience of handling boats and your expectations.

Whilst a tiller may be counterintutive to many novices, a wheel can be more difficult to master.

 

Lightweight (low draught) boats will be less directionably stable than a deep-draughted vessel, especially in wind or current, at low speeds.

 

Find a wide section of waterway and explore your boat's handling characteristics. e.g. Which way does it turn when you increase throttle or engage reverse gear?

With this understanding of your boat's behaviour you may find entering a narrow berth easy or, at least, less dramatic than the efforts of your neighbours.

 

Alan

[Phil Ambrose]

Is it powered by an outboard motor? If so is there a rudder on the outboard? Makes a huge difference to slow speed handling.

 

Try a bag of sand if you are concerned about ballast. A cheap way of proving the point. Worked on D.C.'s Bluebird K7.

And look what happened to that.

Phil

[Guest]

And look what happened to that.

Phil

K7 was travelling at twice its design speed though They eventually ballasted it with lead cast in biscuit tins, after which it took off. It ran fine during the "sand bag" tests!

[RLWP]

The one that catches me out is the effect of using a lot of reverse gear when near the bank

 

Richard

[Guest]

The one that catches me out is the effect of using a lot of reverse gear when near the bank

 

Richard

Yes. Nothing I have ever tried seems to stop that effect. Pointing the tiller away from the bank helps on my boat, but only a little.

[saltysplash]

as mentioned an extra rudder attached to the outboard will help your steering but cruisers on canals are easy to wander until you get used to them, small movements of the wheel are best.

 

beware of adding ballast at the front which may raise the stern and leave the water intakes on the motor high and dry.

 

You will find that being on board with all your stuff and things will probably be enough ballast but its a case of suck it and see

[Phil Ambrose]

K7 was travelling at twice its design speed though They eventually ballasted it with lead cast in biscuit tins, after which it took off. It ran fine during the "sand bag" tests!

So the moral is "use sandbags not lead" got it.

Phil

[Neil Quinn]

Thanks for your help so far, folks. It's a Honda 10bhp outboard. My experience of boats is erm.......none

I find steering generally no problem (the odd wander off course) & I've negotiated some narrow spots with oncoming boats pretty successfully & felt quite proud.
Mooring is a different matter though. Doesn't help when you've got a hyper missus, shouting "You're gonna crash" two grandkids & a huge hyper German Shepherd, wrapping himself round your legs while barking at ducks & swans.

[PhilR]

Thanks for your help so far, folks. It's a Honda 10bhp outboard. My experience of boats is erm.......none

I find steering generally no problem (the odd wander off course) & I've negotiated some narrow spots with oncoming boats pretty successfully & felt quite proud.

Mooring is a different matter though. Doesn't help when you've got a hyper missus, shouting "You're gonna crash" two grandkids & a huge hyper German Shepherd, wrapping himself round your legs while barking at ducks & swans.

 

A GRP cruiser with a Honda outboard should steer in reverse almost as well as it does in forward, which most narrowboats don't do. But if you have a stiiff breeze, a hyper missus, grandkids and a German Shepherd you have my full sympathies. The last thing you need is people shouting and kids and dogs getting under your feet in a confined space. Distractions like those are often the biggest handicap to boat handling.

 

When mooring just take it slowly. Don't allow them to distract you by waving boat hooks around and shouting instructions. You might find it easier if you forbid them from offering any help and do it all yourself.

 

On a slightly different tack, if you haven't got a bolt-on rudder blade on the Honda I am sure you will find it a big help generally.

[John V]

 

On a slightly different tack, if you haven't got a bolt-on rudder blade on the Honda I am sure you will find it a big help generally.

 

Agree with all of the above post but in particular with this...those bolt on rudder blades do help quite a lot.

 

Personally I find manoeuvring a boat with an outboard harder than other drive types due to the poor steering when in a "glide" but a bolt on rudder does help with this.

[Phil Ambrose]

When reversing the O/B will pull the boat in whichever direction its pointing, you may find it helpfull to look at it to visulise the direction it is pulling you. Hopefully you have the correct lenght of leg on your O/B as if its too short the thrust from the prop will be hitting the transom and failing to give you the correct thrust under the hull. A leg that is too short will also drasticlly lower your stopping ability.

Phil

[Neil2]

That's a short Highbridge isn't it, or is it a Dawncraft Rover?

 

For my money she does look a bit high in the water all round which won't help with the handling, the more "grip" you have the easier she will be to steer, so increasing the displacement might help. I'd make enquiries on the Dawncraft Owners forum to see if other Rover/Highbridge owners have had issues. These boats have a very loyal and enthusiastic following so I'm sure someone over there will be able to help.

[Neil Quinn]

Thanks Neil....I'll have a look. Didn't realise there was one.

 

Yes - it is a short one. Our neighbours bought the 32 footer that we looked at first but while we were looking at others, they swooped in. Quite funny that we ended up being moored next to them. Theirs is 6 berth in that they have two bunks behind the bathroom / kitchen, that extend under the cruiser deck. We don't have that space & is where we lose the five foot.

[Neil Quinn]

Oh - something else that's just sprung to mind is the fact that our water tank ran out last weekend. Filling that will create some ballast won't it

 

We were actually trying to empty it because it needs a good flush out.

[Phil Ambrose]

The one that catches me out is the effect of using a lot of reverse gear when near the bank

 

Richard

Richard, what you are describing is Prop Walk, also known as paddle wheel effect and other names. The back of the boat kicks out usually to starboard when using reverse. Use this effect to aid mooring up, once you know which way your stern kicks out you can use it to bring your stern into the bank>

Phil

[RLWP]

Nope, it's the effect of cramming water between the boat and the bank.

 

Otherwise it would be different when the towpath was on the other side

 

Richard

[Phil Ambrose]

There are degrees nd if you are giving it heaps then yes you will push the boat out whichever side you are but on a gentle approach prop effect will in fact bring the stern in, I've been using this effect for years.

Phil

[Gypsey_Kings]

Nope, it's the effect of cramming water between the boat and the bank.

 

Otherwise it would be different when the towpath was on the other side

 

Richard

 

What I've found on my boat (59ft x 6ft10") is to come into the bank at more of an angle and then use reverse to stop the boat with the bow almost touching and the stern still about 1.5 to 2 meters or more away from the bank. This gives the water somewhere to go without excessively pushing the boat back out again. The missus usually hops off the bow at this point and then I give gentle forward with the tiller hard over to bring the stern in and normally I can stop any forward motion by stepping onto the bank and holding onto the centre line - although a further gentle reverse can also stop it without pushing it back away from the bank.

 

Basically doing the hard stopping (reversing) further away from the bank (where the water pushing out each side of the swim has much less effect) and then bringing the stern in at a more gentle pace...

 

Works on my boat....