2014 LSV - Adding Lead

[RyanB]

So, I bought 250 pounds with the expectation of getting it up front, and short of removing the bow tank, I am not sure how to make that happen.

 

There just isn't enough room to slide it between the tank and the fiberglass.  My next step (when I have more time) I guess is to see how much it is going to take to remove that tank. 

Just trying to patiently slide the lead in didn't work.  Any other suggestions?

[Lees23]

4 minutes ago, RyanB said:

So, I bought 250 pounds with the expectation of getting it up front, and short of removing the bow tank, I am not sure how to make that happen.

 

There just isn't enough room to slide it between the tank and the fiberglass.  My next step (when I have more time) I guess is to see how much it is going to take to remove that tank. 

Just trying to patiently slide the lead in didn't work.  Any other suggestions?

Take that the carpet covered wood section out and you should be able to work it around the edge of the tank.  If that fails, use pennies. @kwebster1 has $300 or so of pennies in his bow. 

[RyanB]

12 minutes ago, Lees23 said:

Take that the carpet covered wood section out and you should be able to work it around the edge of the tank.  If that fails, use pennies. @kwebster1 has $300 or so of pennies in his bow. 

I don’t think that will work either. I looked at that and there is something (don’t remember what) that will restrict that access. 

I have about 500 pounds of lead in my garage that will be a diy lead ballast project, but I have that slated to go elsewhere. 

I guess I could put the bags I bought further back in the boat and put the home made stuff up there (I’m thinking of putting it in pvc pipe). 

[Lees23]

Is there enough to play to just loosen the tank allowing you to move it around to get your bags in?  

[RyanB]

17 minutes ago, Lees23 said:

Is there enough to play to just loosen the tank allowing you to move it around to get your bags in?  

That’s what i will try next.

[Stevo]

Unplug the bow line, and that will free up the space needed to slide the bags in there. The 2017’s have tanks with tapered sides that have even less room, I still got 100 lbs around the bow hose area.

you should be able to get it all in here

Edited April 3, 2018 by Stevo

[isellacuras]

I did what Stevo showed above. I haven't put the 50 or 100 i want to, up in the nose but i got 50 on each side behind the tank.  i couldn't get any in front of tank but if i could get the middle cushion out, there's plenty of room up there.  

[RyanB]

On 4/2/2018 at 8:54 PM, Stevo said:

Unplug the bow line, and that will free up the space needed to slide the bags in there. The 2017’s have tanks with tapered sides that have even less room, I still got 100 lbs around the bow hose area.

you should be able to get it all in here

So, for the record, I was able to get 3 bags around the bow tank.  And that entailed disconnecting both the bow line as well as the anchor points in the rear.  I don't know about in other boats, but in mine there was only enough room to get one bag in each red circle.  Maybe if I had smaller bags, I could have got more.  

When I removed the back carpeted area, I was able to get one more bag there.

I put the fifth bag I had way forward in the storage area immediately behind the bow on the port side.  You could probably hide another bag on the starboard side if you took off the panel where the sub is.

If I were to do this again, I would go with my original plan, and buy bulk lead, and put it into PVC pipes that are around 3" diameter by somewhere between 24" - 36".  I still may do that if I want a little more weight up there.

[kwebster1]

I did put about $450 worth of pennies around my tank. I just put them is different sized plastic bags so I could fit then wherever as needed.  I think it's about 300 to 350lbs of weight if I remember correctly. Plus if I need cash....

[martinarcher]

Haha, filling up at the gas dock, realize you forgot your wallet ....hang on a sec....  😁

[RyanB]

First trip out with the bow weight.  Didn't get to surf, but I was surprised at how much 250 pounds in the bow raised my swim platform with no other ballast.  It makes me a bit concerned about taking water over the bow when I am towing the boat behind the houseboat.  Maybe filling the stern tanks will balance things out some.

Edited May 1, 2018 by RyanB

[formulaben]

How much lower was the swim platform before?  How about you take the ballast out and get a "before" picture for us just to verify? 

[RyanB]

6 minutes ago, formulaben said:

How much lower was the swim platform before?  How about you take the ballast out and get a "before" picture for us just to verify? 

You're a funny guy.  

[formulaben]

But seriously, how much difference do you estimate?

[granddaddy55]

23 hours ago, RyanB said:

First trip out with the bow weight.  Didn't get to surf, but I was surprised at how much 250 pounds in the bow raised my swim platform with no other ballast.  It makes me a bit concerned about taking water over the bow when I am towing the boat behind the houseboat.  Maybe filling the stern tanks will balance things out some.

I don’t stow any of mine, I move them around and I don’t find that 250lbs of 50’s takes up very much room even when I stack all five on the listed side.  I had 3 150’s on cushion sacs and even just two of them was major space, 

wish I would have bought 14 35’s instead of 10 50’s

i think 500 lbs permanently stashed could be dangerous in certain circumstances and since I move them for different circumstances like, riding , skiing, skating or surfing I don’t stow 

and yes the 250 makes a huge difference in how low my 20 foot boat bow is when weighted 

Edited May 2, 2018 by granddaddy55

[RyanB]

22 hours ago, formulaben said:

But seriously, how much difference do you estimate?

I think the water line was at the top of the silver/chrome band on my surfgate before I added weight. So what is that, 4”? 

 

We do tow the malibu behind our houseboat at times and it is enough to make me a bit concerned about some of the waves we encounter. Next time out I am going to fill my rear bags and see what difference that makes (although I am not convinced adding even more weight to the boat is the safest solution for on water towing). 

Our first trip taking the houseboat out of the slip isn’t until July, or possibly August, so I have some time to play with it. 

I was considering adding more lead weight to the bow but I think I have now ruled  that out.