Stern Heavy Boat

demco99

demco99

Active Member
Hi Guys,

My boat is quite stern heavy and looking for ideas on how I can try to reverse this. I was reading in another forum that adding weight as far forward as possible is very effective. I was thinking of adding some sort of heavy ballast in the anchor locker at the bow. Open to other ideas/suggestions. Thanks for any help you can provide..
 
Inboard or outboard? What are you trying to achieve? Free board or a better ride? Do you have trim tabs? If it is an outboard you can add a POD for added floatation, or if it is an inboard you can also POD and put on an outboard, if you are looking for better hole shot and to get your bow down; get a stern lift 4 blade prop. Adding ballast to your bow will make your whole boat sit lower in the water, it will help with the ride a bit but it depends on what you are trying to achieve.
 
I have added two flotation tanks to the stern. Followed the line of the hull on each. Didnt affect perfomance at all. Mine are 24" long. Worked like a charm
 
She cruises fine - it is a more even trim at idle/trolling speed that I'm hoping to achieve. Outboard powered boat, not looking to add a pod as it doesn't have a closed transom and is only 18' (BW Outrage).

Thanks for the ideas so far - freshwater is an option, I was thinking of just adding 4L plastic jugs to keep it cheap.. as far as I understand the further your bow is from the center of gravity the more of an effect adding weight up there will have.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
demco99 said:
She cruises fine - it is a more even trim at idle/trolling speed that I'm hoping to achieve. Outboard powered boat, not looking to add a pod as it doesn't have a closed transom and is only 18' (BW Outrage).
Click to expand...

Sand bags will work; easily moved around if you need too, and if you ever need to lighten your load for some reason (weather, safety), you can cut and dump the sand it won't be a lose to the pocket book. Just get some truck tubes, fill them with sand, roll the ends with a 1 by 2 and screw another to the other side to seal the sand in and stow in a locker.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i set up batteries and fuel tank in the bow of the ol trophy, worked great!!
 
I don't think batteries like being up near the bow...a lot of pounding and you may have been lucky not to bust loose an internal plate and short it out. If adding forward weight is your solution....go with the inner tubes filled with sand.
 
Tube tire filled with sand seems like a good option. Others I was considering were old 45lb gym plates from a second hand sporting goods store or bags of lead shot from a hunting store ..
 
Before you do anything have check under the floor etc for rot and waterlogged foam or if you have a soft transom..If its heavy sometimes these things have to be fixed or your just band aiding it....
 
I used two of the blue camping water jugs from Canadian tire in my old boat. On the port side in the bow to counter weight the kicker.
 
In your case I think your over powered, Are you Not?
 
Tie a couple large floats to the stern eyes - when you are on plane they will not contact the water and add drag. When you are at rest or trolling speed, they will add some lift without adding much weight to the boat. Any weight you add to the bow will cost you something in speed and economy while at planning speeds.
You can calculate the amount of lift by the manuf. posted size in litres. EG. - A polyform A-3 volume is 44litres so you would get about 40 kgs of lift if you can tie it so that the entire float was under water. An A-4 size is 77 litres so that is about 72-73 kgs of lift.
I did this on my boat for tuna season and it raised the stern about 2"
 
Had the same problem with my 2525 Kingfisher, I removed 2 acid / lead plate batteries from the stern & installed two AGM batteries in the bow locker up front they are about 80Lbs each. Worked perfect. The AGM's don't off gas and aren't damaged by a little pounding. Essentially just transferring ballast from stern to bow.
 
rapid said:
Had the same problem with my 2525 Kingfisher, I removed 2 acid / lead plate batteries from the stern & installed two AGM batteries in the bow locker up front they are about 80Lbs each. Worked perfect. The AGM's don't off gas and aren't damaged by a little pounding. Essentially just transferring ballast from stern to bow.
Click to expand...
This is what I'm doing to my DE.It's stern heavy as it is now with an older 2 stroke main of about 300 lbs. Will probably
repowering with a 4 stroke weighing 360-380 lbs. so something has to be done.Two AGM's in the bow should balance it
out nicely I hope,and like you said the AGM's aren't as sensitive to pounding like the lead/acid style of battery.
 
tykkyt e blue said:
Tie a couple large floats to the stern eyes - when you are on plane they will not contact the water and add drag. When you are at rest or trolling speed, they will add some lift without adding much weight to the boat. Any weight you add to the bow will cost you something in speed and economy while at planning speeds.
You can calculate the amount of lift by the manuf. posted size in litres. EG. - A polyform A-3 volume is 44litres so you would get about 40 kgs of lift if you can tie it so that the entire float was under water. An A-4 size is 77 litres so that is about 72-73 kgs of lift.
I did this on my boat for tuna season and it raised the stern about 2"
Click to expand...

Hey this sounds good - got any pictures of this? I'm having trouble imagining how this would work? Thanks, Nick
 
I used to have a BW 18' Outrage, which BW later renamed a 19'. Good boat, which I had a 130 Yamaha 2-stroke, plus a 8 hp kicker, and with both motors sat stern heavy. I solved my issue by moving both batteries to the forward area of the console, which makes battery access more difficult. If you have not done this, you will need to go to heavier battery cables. If you have done this and still have a problem, I would then consider adding more chain to your anchor locker, going from maybe 25' to 60' plus your nylon rode. If you still have an issue, add a sandbag to anchor locker, which will serve no purpose other than weight forward, whereas the other solutions are relocations of necessary weight, not hauling around useless weight.

the comment about getting water out of hull is right. You should park the boat on its trailer for coming winter months at a severe "bow up" angle so the aft keel is lower than the forward keel by say 3', and drill 3 or 4 holes of 1/2" along the centerline of the aft keel area and allow the hull to drain into a bucket. My Outrage was wet and I pulled gallons of yellow salty pee out of her once. after you feel there is no more water to come out, inject your drain holes with marine tex and sand smooth. For more specifics of how to fix, or how water gets in the keel, go to Continuous Wave forum (BW gang)

good luck. DAJ
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Boats are designed to handle a fixed amount of weight and horse power. Alter any part of this equation and you start descending a downgrade that rapidly leads to trouble.
 
Regardless of the garbage and politics surrounding hp ratings (its all about $$ ), as already mentioned moving weight is the only good option, adding weight will just mask the problem and likely add a problem somewhere else.
You need to relocate existing weight forward, period.
I found moving as little as 100lbs around made a difference in my 24' searay
Remember all the little things add up, most guys have 50lbs of lead in downrigger balls stored at the rear of their boat.
Get creative, can you move the fuel tank/water tank/ oil tank/ batteries/gear storage/etc forward
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

-Jim-
"New" Boat Trailer is a bit big?
Replies
13
Views
1K
noluck
noluck
C
Damn surge brakes
Replies
22
Views
2K
trophywife
trophywife
C
Thinking about a custom belly fuel tank
Replies
25
Views
2K
chille51
C
WCVI
Halibut anchor pac for sale….. $500. New pics added.
Replies
0
Views
802
WCVI
WCVI
F
How to get my boat on the bunk trailer?
Replies
37
Views
2K
seahorse
seahorse
Back
Top