Lead and swamping danger

[Couvewakesetter]

2009 23 LSV.  Bought 400 pounds lead to lengthen wave.  Put up in bow.  Noticed taking on more water over bow and one time quite a bit.  Was windy out so attributed it to that but now I’m paranoid.

Any reason to be worried or extra cautious with only 400 pounds up front or should I move some around toward center of boat?

[UWSkier]

Lead should be used sparingly especially in the bow. Unlike water ballast which doesn't sink, lead is going straight to the bottom. 

And 400 lbs seems like a lot for the bow esp if there is also a bow tank. 

[Stevo]

Test it out with 200 up front and 200 in the walkway. If you are taking water over the bow. Also adjust the way you drive to take oncoming rollers on the side vs head on.

400 in the bow seems maybe a little higher for the 09 hull. 
with the 2014 23lsv hull change we ran a 650 bow bag all the time and had no problems

in the 17 25LSV I have 500 spread in the bow, observer comp, and behind helm

but those 2 boats have significant more freeboard to handle the additional weight

[Couvewakesetter]

Thanks for the advice!

[shawndoggy]

it really depends how much weight you run in the back and the size of your crew (and of course where they sit).  

I've got 400 in my T22.  We tow with it in the back of the cabin (against the rear seat) to put the weight over the axles.  When we get to the lake it all goes in the walkway.  If I am running heavy for surfing, or have a bigger crew, some to all of it goes in the bow.

Whether I move the weight forward from the walkway or not is a function of bow rise.  If I'm not getting a lot of bow rise, weight stays put.  If I am getting a lot of bow rise, weight moves fwd.

[Nitrousbird]

On 6/28/2020 at 11:23 AM, UWSkier said:

Lead should be used sparingly especially in the bow. Unlike water ballast which doesn't sink, lead is going straight to the bottom. 

And 400 lbs seems like a lot for the bow esp if there is also a bow tank. 

My boat always has 250 - 300 of lead in the bow, plus water ballast.  Has not been a problem and I'm on a much smaller hull.

As for lead sinking the boat, whether it is water or lead, once the boat is sunk past it gunwales, it is totaled anyway.  A few hundred pounds of lead isn't going to sink the boat to the bottom regardless.

[UWSkier]

6 hours ago, Nitrousbird said:

My boat always has 250 - 300 of lead in the bow, plus water ballast.  Has not been a problem and I'm on a much smaller hull.

As for lead sinking the boat, whether it is water or lead, once the boat is sunk past it gunwales, it is totaled anyway.  A few hundred pounds of lead isn't going to sink the boat to the bottom regardless.

Wanna bet? Lots of cases of boats going down even without lead. Sure they're both totaled. But if your boat turtles you can tow it to shore. If it goes down in 100 feet it gets complicated in a hurry

[Nitrousbird]

48 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Wanna bet? Lots of cases of boats going down even without lead. Sure they're both totaled. But if your boat turtles you can tow it to shore. If it goes down in 100 feet it gets complicated in a hurry

Totaled is totaled.  100' down gets complicated for the guys pulling it up my insurance is paying.

[Eagleboy99]

Too bad there are no positive flotation rules for boats greater than 20 feet.

[gregtay]

I had the same boat and even without lead it liked to dip the nose if I wasn't paying attention.  I surfed with two 1100's in back the bow full of people and never really felt like it was an issue to the point I was worried (again.. except those 1 or 2 times I was distracted and messed up... you certainly need to be on your toes and have the be smart about coming back to a rider)  But like other said... led sinks (quickly) so there is that :-O