Just out of curiosity

fallspiper

New Member
During my first sail of the year in May, I inadvertently forgot to close the drain plug and found myself draining the boat for quite a while once on shore. Honestly, I didn't even know the boat could hold that much water and the weight was considerable.

Has anyone ever sailed regularly with a considerable amount of water in the ballast? If so, how does the boat perform? I guess I'm looking for a little more stability as I'm single handling the boat most days and Lake Erie can get pretty wild. Any thoughts?

Jason
 
Hi Jason,
Adding water to the bilge will only slow you down, in addition to fueling any rot or mold that might be taking place out of sight. A better strategy would be to add sandbags that you can easily remove once conditions ease up. Plus, reefing the main and/or taking down the jib will make the boat a lot less tippy when the wind gets too strong.

Hope this helps,
Jim
 
Thanks

Thanks. That does help. It wasn't anything I was seriously considering. Just a thought that came to mind.
 

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