Additional Bow weight
 

When I went from a 2 stroke 7.5hp to a 4 stroke 9.9 kicker motor with power trim it added probably 70+pounds to the rear of the boat. The addtion of bigger downriggers didn’t help either. I was taking water through the scuppers and would run the bilge every once in a while (not much water but some). To counter this “new” weight, I added 3 60lb sand bags to the bow of the boat. Now the old gal rides like a dream! I have had absolutely zero water on board, she tracks nice and straight while I set up my fishing gear and she gets right up on plane. Is there anything I should be concerned about? I might eventually replace the sand bags with 2 batteries and a Minkota ipilot but until then, I hope this modification doesn’t have any unforeseen troubles. The bow definitely sits lower then ever before. Hopefully not too much that I start to take on water if going head on into big waves. One other thought that crossed my mind is that there may be a risk of excessive “pounding/pressure” on the bow when going fast in a chop. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

You might experiment to see if you need all three of the bags of sand. I don’t have any technical knowledge but I can’t imagine that amount of weight (distributed a little so it’s not a point load) causing any structural problems.

My other concern would be to make sure the bags don’t rupture and end up with sand plugging the bow area bilge drain - you could probably clean it out but it’d be a mess to deal with.

Hi Dschaffer,

I have issues similar to what you have described, with the addition of a 10hp kicker and 2 Cannon downriggers. I have added 2 additional 3 gal gas cans (for a total of 3) which I keep in the cuddy to offset the added weight in the aft. Having the addition gas gives me some peace of mind in the event the old Merc decides to quit. My splash well scuppers are at the water line. Not great, but better. I moved my batteries (2) to about mid-ship, into a storage area.

Me personally I don't like it, first your taking away valuable space up front and who wants bags of sand on your boat. Your talking about a 20 wellcraft I assume, I would move the battery's up front closer to the bow area, what is going to happen is you are removing weight from the stern first and adding weight to the bow, think about that you remove one battery weights about 40 lbs and adding it up front 40 lbs up front assuming the battery is 40 lbs.if you take two that's 80 off the stern and 80 up front, dump the sand bags , just my 2 cents
Or you can take my with you,I weight 240 and I will fish up front than you don't have to move anything lol

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

add a hard top....

Thanks for the replies. I'll attach a picture of where the bags are. I feel pretty confident that it's not too much weight structurally speaking but I think I will remove one bag and see if it still maintains the great ride. I could put them in the locker in the cuddy but I like that space for my gear. Where they are now maybe was meant for anchor line? Anyway, thanks again. After viewing the pictures, if you feel it's obviously a mistake to have the bags there, please let me know. On a side note, when going to retrieve my boat from the lake last night, a bunk floated off of the trailer. I was able to use ratchet straps to get it back in place but it appears to have been rotted for quite a while and there is damage to the hull. I have no idea what to do about the damage to the fiberglass. I will replace the bunks asap. If y'all have any experience with this, I'd appreciate your insight. Thanks again

Better pictures

Don't like the dead weight. you would be better off moving the battery(s) since you would not be adding weight but redistributing it. more effective and leaves you able to carry more gas/ice/people/FISH!.

Don't get mad at me but that's horrible first your putting a lot of weight in that space and taking away valuable useable space that you can use.try moving the battery s ,where do you keep your anchor and rode? That's where I put mine.

Gotta agree with the others. While the extra weight will work, it's much better to try redistributing the weight you have rather than adding more. Remember that EVERY pound you add is one more pound that your engine has to push which equals more gas used and less speed attained. Just something to think about...:head:

I’m sure you are all right but i don’t see another option. The batteries counter balance the kicker (port/starboard), moving them to the front would throw off my side to side balance. I could potentially put a sand bag in the middle fish locker, one in the forward locker and leave one way up front where they currently are. This would at least distribute the additional load but it will also add clutter to my currently used lockers. Maybe I’ll try just two bags, one in the forward locker and one where they currently are. I don’t see how the current situation is much different then adding a 24v bow mounted trolling motor, which I migth do at some point.

Well, actually a good solution for your problem would be to add trim tabs. That way you can adjust for forward weight, aft weight, side to side trim, etc. Of course they only work while underway, so you have to take that into account and adjust accordingly. But they work really well and you can compensate for changing sea conditions on the fly, which you cannot do with dead weight. :head:

If you decide to move your batteries forward, I would make an effort to put them up in the cuddy wherever possible. I moved my two batteries to a compartment forward of the gas tank on my 78 cuddy, about mid-ship. It did not have the impact I had hoped. I have my two spare 3 gallon cans up on the cuddy (every little bit helps).

Thanks. Trim tabs are on the list but 95% of my boating is trolling for salmon so they won't really do much for me.

Thanks. I moved two of the 3 sand bags from the very forward compartment to the forward locker and even that little change meant I now take on water. It's still much better then pre sandbags though. I can understand why moving the batteries to mid ship would do little. If you do trying adding wait to the fore most compartment, be warned that you will absolutely love the ride. It is night and day different. The boat gets right up on plane and tracks amazingly. I no longer feel the need for autopilot when trolling.

Where do you fish for salmon? :head:

Lake Michigan.

Nice. That's a wee bit too far for me, but I fish for them in Lake Ontario. Mostly off 9 mile Island, but several other places also. :beer:

Nice looking Salmon. We’re having some very lousy runs out here on the left coast (Columbia River). I haven’t even fished for them for a couple of years - I do miss bringing them home and getting them on the broiler.