Marinette Boat Forum

Our 39 Sedan has ballast weight added in the stern by way of lead weights. (see pics)
They have been there going back to the original owner. It appears that either he or Marinette added them. There are somewhere between 80 - 100 of these weights. A few (6 dredge fishies) weigh only 10 lbs each. The others probably weigh 20-30 lbs each. That being said, there is at least 2,000 lbs of ballast that I am hulling around.
The individual that I bought it off of speculated that it was added to compensate for this boat not having an aft cabin. It seems that most 39's are aft cabins.
The boat seems to run well up on plane. I don't have experience to compare it to. The boat sets in water okay I guess as it slants down to the stern just a bit.

Has anyone encountered this before with a 39 or 41 Sedan?
I sure would like to remove this and not pay for the gas to hull it. Maybe replace it with more valuable cargo like gas or beer...

That is a new one for me. I don't think I have ever seen a boat ballasted, at least that much, in the stern. I was on a big cruiser that had something like 5k added around the engine because they pulled a Kahlenberg and replaced it with a Cat diesel. I would be curious to see how your boat sits in the water.

(If you have never seen a Kahlenberg diesel, look it up and you will understand why they added the 5k lbs. I think he said it was a 5 cyl.)

These are the only pictures that kind of show a side view.
I don't know if it shows anything.

bump this up - to see if anyone has any experience or opinions about our "lead-a$$" Big M... lol

I have never seen this, but how many will your fly bridge seat? That might help with stability.
Wayne

Have seen people put bags of concrete in houseboats to level them out. At 2000 lbs. you've got about a $1000 stash.

ddependo wrote:I have never seen this, but how many will your fly bridge seat? That might help with stability.
Wayne

Interesting Wayne...
On that subject, I found a tag that states 6 people allowed on the flybridge. Does that make sense?
Anyhow thank you for your help.

I'll bet it sits down by the stern with what--a ton and a half of lead in it?

Maybe someone figured it like was rear wheel drive and the boat would have better traction with more weight in the back.

I would take it out and see what happens. Of course you need a place to store it while you figure things out. (Maybe in a neighbor's plastic muscle boat! Hey buddy, wanna race for gas money?)

I was pretty young when my uncle bought his 1970 28' express (one of the first 28's?) with twins and a generator--not sure it had trim tabs. I remember my other uncle (his brother) got some lead from a friend who was lightening his sailboat's keel and cut it into slabs to that were placed low in the bilge. I'll ask my uncle, but I think it had to do with something about curing a list. No such problem in my 1977 28 with twins though.

Maybe one of the POs was not an experienced boat handler and thought this was a cure for bow steer.

That's the best I can do. It's really hard for me to imagine why anyone would put ballast in the stern of a 39 sedan, let alone that much ballast. An aft cabin couldn't weigh that much.

I recall, many, many years ago, a 40ish foot cruiser I worked on that had a pair of monstrous Chrysler 392 hemis installed instead of the traditional 6 bangers. The motors were nearly midship in location, and it ran bow down--really bow down! Adding to this boat's instability was a sloppy chain and sprocket steering system with tons of play--a disaster. The owner asked the marina I worked for to install--are you ready for this?--trim tabs! I tried to explain they would only add to his problem and--on my own initiative--starting tearing apart the steering mess to at least get it to steer properly (which got me fired!)

Never heard what happened to that death trap, but I hope he scrapped it. The guy was a nice person and had a family on board to worry about.

Jeff

Update: My uncle tells me his 1970-71 28' came with sandbags to cure a list. (He bought it from the original owner who moved up to a bigger boat shortly after getting the .) He and his brother decided lead slabs were a better solution. Although his 28 had twins and a generator, it did not have trim tabs. (The generator was between the engines so it's hard to imagine that was the cause of the list.)

Definitely no list on my 28 and no counterweights that I found--and I stripped out the entire interior. Maybe there was some flaw in the early 28s.

Of course none of this explains why someone would put lead in the stern of a 39 sedan.