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[AlanP]

Although not finished I have had my Graemsay with it's RC gear and batteries in the test tub for ballasting.

Lead in the bow.....stern goes up.   Lead in the stern.....bow goes back up.  more lead in the bow....stern back up. >:(       Lots of lead in the middle, (don't know the right expression) will have to find another church roof,   now try not to laugh to much but is there a right way to ballast a model

Alan

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I always start in the middle, as low down as I can get. I use roofing lead in strip form as it moulds itself nicely to the boat's contours.

Then place the batteries on top and see how she sits in the water. It is then only a case for trimming 'fore & aft'.

Best of luck.

Ken
 

[Shipmate60]

AlanP,
I ballast slightly different to Kenny.
I find in larger models if you ballast in the centre the hull will pivot around this point and "Bob" a bit.
I put in all the equipment needed, if she is very light I add another battery. By moving fore and aft you can get the model somewhere near an even keel.
Then I add to bow and stern ballast slowly, she should start settling nearer the waterline.
When she is almost ballasted and I am satisfied that she will still take a little more I set the permanent ballast in epoxy or PVA and let it set.
The final ballasting I do at the lakeside, run her and add a bit more fore or aft as required, depending if you put it port or stbd bias you can get her upright, or if it is too windy keep the weights separate and finally ballast at home using a spirit level AND EYE. Fix the ballast.
All Done.

Bob

[bbdave]

I always ballast the bow and stern first to reduce the boat bobbing then use batteries in the centre to bring down to waterline.

Dave

[boatmadman]

So thats where the lead from the library roof went Alan.

[chas]

I find that the placing of ballast has a noticeable effect on the handling of the boat especially with longer models. As Bob says ballast in the middle can make the boat twitchy, but too much weight in the bow can make it slower to turn, though this can make for more realistic sailing. It's probably something to do with inertia but I'm getting out of my depth there! It's all a good excuse to keep going for another sail and experimenting.
 Chas

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I agree with spreading out the weight. On my Boston Typhoon, the lead strip runs from Bow to stern, with another one on top. We are up to 25 Lbs without the four lead batteries, which have to be added at the water side.  Oooooh my back !!

Mind you, she's not hit the water yet, so loads more to learn. I'll keep you posted on this one. 

Cheers...Ken

[AlanP]

Thanks for the advice, think ill take a leaf out of everyones book, quite a bit in the middle then trim fore and aft.  Would go for the idea of running a strip down the centre but it's too late as I have glued the battery box in.

Alan