Association Forum - 150lbs of Sand In Transom and Under Quarterberth

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

150lbs of Sand In Transom and Under Quarterberth

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

sethp001
Mainsheet C-25 Tech Editor

Member Avatar

814 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/09/2012 : 13:55:15

We're typically butt heavy when we're sailing. I encourage the willing and able to go forward out of the cockpit to balance us out.

I also thought that the cushions at the rear of the quarter berth sloped upward toward the transom due to molded fiberglass underneath.

Turns out some PO stuck 2 50lb bags of sand under there and another 50lb bag in the transom. They were wrapped in black plastic bags and had one loop of duct tape wrapped around each side. I first wondered if they were drugs a PO had forgotten to get out when he sold the boat.

They're out now and we're much better balanced.

Seth
"Outlier" 1987 Catalina 25 SR/SK/Traditional Interior #5541
"Zoo" 1977 Morgan Out Island 30
"Nomad" 1980 Prindle 16
"Lost" 1988 Catalina Capri 14.2 (sold - yay!)
"Marine Tex 1" Unknown Origin POS 8' Fiberglass Dinghy
https://whichsailboat.com/2014/07/27/catalina-25-review/

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 14:17:21

Kind of the opposite of what you might find in a C-250. My PO had three 50# bags of sand (also wrapped in plastic bags and then duct tape) in the bow, which I've replaced with plates from commercial weight machines (used to work for a fitness company and they were getting rid of them). Lots of C-250 sailors have weight in their bow, but the evidence for better performance is anecdotal at best I think (yet I follow the crowd). At least with the plates I get back a couple cubic feet of storage space, which is almost completely taken up with sails I never use.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 14:50:48

I don't remember ever hearing of anyone supplementing the ballast like that on a C25. The only reason I can imagine why anyone might do it is if he had a too-short shaft motor, and added ballast astern to keep the prop submerged. It certainly wouldn't improve the sailing performance of the boat.

Edited by - on

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 16:04:33

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The only reason I can imagine why anyone might do it is if he had a too-short shaft motor, and added ballast astern to keep the prop submerged. It certainly wouldn't improve the sailing performance of the boat.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The only other reason I could come up with is this; If you take a C25 on a trip that lasts more than a couple of days, your boat will be fairly loaded up on weight. In my case, full water tank, empty waste tank, full DC refrigerator, case of wine, case of beer, case of water, dinghy, maybe generator....you get the idea. Most of that weight will get shifted about the boat or removed as trash. When you start the trip you might be listing to one side, or the other, the dinghy might weigh down the bow if it's stored up front. The extra weight could have been to offset something else and never got removed. Of course, just all a guess on my part.

Edited by - Davy J on 07/09/2012 16:16:52

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 16:13:54

I'm guessing that with the swing keel boat, which has a tendency to sit deeper at the bow, the weight in the stern was to allow water in the cockpit to drain properly instead of it pooling at the forward end of the cockpit.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

Members Avatar

USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 19:00:32

Probably a star for Don! It could also be just to make it look like its on its lines. The boat will be bow down with the keel lowered and nobody in the cockpit. Get off the boat to look, and it will be bow down; step into the cockpit, and she will be pretty much level. Reminds me of old movie comic routines.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2012 : 20:07:00

What Don said is what I immediately suspected. There have been several reports here of cockpits not draining properly when the 1500# SK is left in the down position. When up, the C/G shifts aft. Maybe the PO wanted to leave it down.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 07/09/2012 20:16:36

sethp001
Mainsheet C-25 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

814 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2012 : 07:07:48

Thanks for all the replies guys and figuring this out.

If the boat is now bow heavy at the dock, I'll start raising the keel part way until the boat is heavy enough in the stern for the water to drain from the cockpit. It occurs to me that I can adjust the balance by how far up I crank the keel. Now that I've just replaced all my keel lifting hardware I can feel better about doing that.

I think my outboard is a long shaft, but not one of the extra long shafts. When motoring, I typically put the outboard down at the first notch, which would cause the prop to come out occasionally when we got a large wake from a motorboat (we're on an inland lake). However, I felt like the next notch down put the motor too close to the water so that a wake from a motorboat might cause it to submerge. So with the boat better balanced, maybe now I can use that second notch and get perfect position for the prop.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5385 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2012 : 18:31:23

I notice that if I have the engine running and walk up on the bow to drop anchor, the engine pops out of the water. Could it be that the PO wanted the engine to stay in the water under these conditions?

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2012 : 13:47:01

Quite possibly, especially if you have a long shaft, not extra long shaft, motor. Crew going forward will cause the stern to lift up.

Edited by - on

jrchase11
1st Mate

Members Avatar

35 Posts

Response Posted - 07/14/2012 : 07:02:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Stinkpotter
 What Don said is what I immediately suspected. There have been several reports here of cockpits not draining properly when the 1500# SK is left in the down position. When up, the C/G shifts aft. Maybe the PO wanted to leave it down.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Wing keel does this as well. If i stand at aft end of cockpit, the cockpit partially drains but not quite all the way. I have light 6hp outboard and i am about 175 lbs., so i need more hp or more beer

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/14/2012 : 08:23:54

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 I notice that if I have the engine running and walk up on the bow to drop anchor, the engine pops out of the water. Could it be that the PO wanted the engine to stay in the water under these conditions?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">As the PO that bought that engine, I had that problem with a 20" shaft and worried about it sucking air, but not after I got that XL Honda and new bracket. You must be carrying a bigger anchor forward than I did, Bruce.

Edited by - on

Jay Schkloven
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
84 Posts

Response Posted - 07/28/2012 : 07:31:25

I had the issue of the stern lifting the extra long shaft out of the water when crew was on the bow and I would move forward too. To counter this I filled 7 plastic gallon jugs with water and placed them all the way in the stern in the quart berth just before we would anchor or come into the marina. This location and 8 pounds per gallon kept the motor deep enough in the water. When sailing I moved the gallons forward to the steps and all sails well. The water can easily be dumped when not needed or refilled if needed. This is a swing keel boat and the keel is usually most of the way up when we come into the marina.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.