Originally Posted by
rojoguio
So you have 3 Axis when balancing a vessel - Longitudinal, Transverse, and Vertical Centers of Gravity. Righting Moments, Free Surface Corrections (moving liquids like gas, livewells, not a big deal on a bass boat but still a moving weight/moment), Wind & Sail Effect all are figured into a Vessels design. If you look at how I did the little boat weight was kept as low as possible maximizing the Righting Moment. A boat swamped but upright is much easier to recover along with it's occupants. Keeping your added flotation as high as possible while loading the static (Immovable Weight) weight in such a way to improve level flotation while swamped is one of the things the USCG tests a boat to get a public consumer rating tag. Selling a commercial vessel to Joe Consumer comes with much liability to the seller than most know. At some point a vessel matching your project boat was sent to the Coast Guard to swamp with the maximum engine rated mounted on the transom to check off the list of terms above. Now the boat you have is being altered, weight distributions changed, etc but you can figure a fairly close estimate of the changes be it subtractions or additions but you should go back, give some thought to the changes, look to see where additional flotation counters the changes. You know when I did my first water test with the new "Hull" (I have 2 of these Blazers) it leaped all over the place. Without the 2 massive hooks in the hull for stern lift and the Yammy 115 2 stroke (358#'s) 8 inches of setback to boot holding down the stern was just too much for the new Hull. Using Coosa, 1708 S-glass and epoxy my hull is under 400 pounds. I could lift the bow of the boat when it was empty, walking it up in the air. All that water logged wood and foam weighed more than I thought. Removing a bit in the trash can weekly you loose track of how much weight was lost. I have the 4in Bob's Extensions removed waiting till we have enough water to test it again. On a boat that small with a 68in Beam you have to load as close to center as you can. 25#'s off center near the side will make that little boat list to that side. Answering your last question, yes, always load as close to Centerline as possible. Physics plays a part in a accident or just bad seas where rotating weight located further away from the Center Axis causes increased Pitch and Yaw.