[garagenc]

kam

I'm a Naval Arch Tech at NNSY (Norfolk Naval Shpiyard) in Portsmouth Va. I have friends over in another struct dept that handles nothing but ballasting. I've some exp with this matter in my line of work. What I've found out is a easy way mentioned by spare & air by moving weight (sandbags etc). Calculate the weight of the tank full of gas and move that much weight to the area you want the tk to be and see how it planes and rides. You can adjust the weight by movement fwd / back / side to side to get a feel of what to expect. BUT remember that when you actually move the tank you have to compensate for the loss of that weight back there and the best way to do that is run the boat with only bare minimum fuel to get a true picture of what the performance will be.

Next if you remove the casting deck, it is my belief you will have to beef the bow which you can do by vertical/horizontial stringers or by both in a configuration inside the stowage/locker you want to install. If there's not enough space in the locker then you could configure the stringers to look & hold rods and still achieve strength. I believe you must strengthen the bow based upon past calculations I've had to do in my line of work.