NICKYPOO's Ballast Thread

[NICKYPOO]

These sections of floor have to be cut out. There is no unscrewing them and pulling them up. That section is glassed in and there is tons of glass to cut through which leads to much more "cleaning up" of that area. I mean, they are glassed in to the top of the stringers even.

Once you removed your foam, what did you use for a bulkhead in the front of that section?

Yes, I'm considering this more and more. Maybe if I put enough weight back there, I will need to put some ballast up front. "Sorry Honey. I guess I did too good a job on the rear. Now we NEED to do the front." I really want to cut the "cooler" out from under the observer's seat and put a sac in place of it. I figure its worth 200#, hidden. It completely unused now other than being misc. rope storage. It would be nice to negate any possible driver weight when surfing port.

[NICKYPOO]

You'll thank me later.

...and you would just love that, wouldn't you? ;-)

[IDBoating]

Once you removed your foam, what did you use for a bulkhead in the front of that section?

The current design of the Ve hull has a bulkhead directly in front of the foam blocks (or hard tanks if you have those) which is roughly in line with the front of the storage locker, making a nice regularly shaped space. This does yield a "step" from the hull's inner surface to the carpeted surface of the underseat storage area, but the ballast sacs were sized to accommodate that. Here's a photo looking at that area in the starboard locker:



By the way, the presence of that "step" permitted my "Mode A/Mode B" setup as described in my ballast thread. A false wall can be supported by that step and the seatback, thus preventing the fat sac's arm from deploying under the seat. This does two things: It opens up more storage while permitting the locker portion of the sac to be filled to the top, and it concentrates the weight toward the rearmost corner of the hull rather than having a good percentage fill forward under the seat. This gives flexibility in positioning the ballast and lets you play with waveshaping a bit more.

[IDBoating]

...and you would just love that, wouldn't you? ;-)

It's OK, you won't have to say it out loud. I'll know just the same.

Seriously though, you're already in there with everything out of the way and tools in hand. There will never be a better or more convenient time to do it.

[duffymahoney]

I wish I knew if that area is under my sacs.

[NICKYPOO]

Duffy, you might just wanna open em up to see what's going on down there. I did. Chit. I got water down there. Crystal clear water. Not one ounce of mold or mildew, just a lot of pure water. I don't know where it came from or when but, its in there. The starboard side had a little but, port side has a lot. Like several gallons. I figure at this point all I can do is drain it and dry it. I'm gonna just pump air through there for a couple days. Thank god I live in the desert. I need to find the source though and plug it up. I'm slightly freaked out. I mean, its been in there for who knows how long so, obviously I've been boating around like a happy little boater without a care in the world so, it can't be that bad but, it can't be the best thing in the world either. Can 'o worms. I knew there was something down there I didn't want to see. As it turns out, there's two. There's a second set of stringers. I knew thing was a tank when I bought it, I just didn't realize how much of a tank. Sheesh. I haven't decided exactly how to address them but, I've got a few ways I'm kicking around. My main concern is the water.

Awesome. My phone won't let me upload any pics.

[NICKYPOO]

OK, maybe that was a little extreme. There was maybe a quart in there at the most. Still, kinda freaked me out. It's drained and drying. I wish my phone would let me upload some pics.

Hmm...

[IDBoating]

There, now! That's what we like to see... lots of open volume all the way down to the hull's inner surface. Nice job! I'm sure it was extra work but now it will be done and finished, out of the way. Plus, all of your ballast water will be inside of your fat sacs rather than hiding in some mystery compartment!

[NICKYPOO]

Got the floor trimmed back to where it needs to be. Next will be notching the secondary stringers.

[IDBoating]

Lookin' good! Thanks for the photos!

[duffymahoney]

Someone do this to a 22v or 24v so I can see whats under there!

[NICKYPOO]

I'll tell you what, having the right tool for the job is making it much easier that I thought it would be. There are so many funky little spots and angles and intersecting surfaces, different materials etc, etc. For the big cuts in the floor, obviously you can just use a skill saw. That ain't gonna get it done though for the other 90% of the trimming. You really need something small, non-threatening, non-violent, accurate, versatile and powerful enough to cut 3/4" marine ply that has been glassed in with severe overkill in some places. I've been using a Dremel Multi Max. What bitchin little tool. There's no way I would tackle this without one. Minus an 18" cut along the main cabin floor, every bit of cutting has been done with the same tool. It has handled the delicate parts with ease and the tough parts with no problem. It vibrates so there no flying debris like a saw will generate. You can flush cut right against the hull without worry of damaging it. It has cut the floor back behind the seat bases with ease (something I was very worried about). It flush cut the floor off the top of the stringers (including the glassed in screws) and it shaved the floatation foam like it was a sheep shearer. All with the same blade. Kiiiiiiiiiiiiickazz.

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/tools/Pa....aspx?catid=94

[duffymahoney]

Is that a fiberglassed 2x6 in the picture?

[NICKYPOO]

Which picture? Are you talking about the secondary stringers?

[duffymahoney]

Yeah secondary stringers. I wonder if I have those. All I know of is the stringer that the motor mounts to.