Ballast Replacement?

Hi Bob -- There has been "tons" of discussion about ballast over the years on the Yahoo list.  Now that the list is transferred to Groups.io you can still find it there.  Just use the search box at the top of the messages list.  You can sort by relevance or by date.

Here's a link to my sort on "Ballast", which came up with over 600 entries.  If you refine the search a bit, such as trying "ballast replacement", it should help.

https://willardboatowners.groups.io/g/main/search?q=ballast+replacement

Cheers,
Rick

Hi Slow Dancer.  I had to remove some ballast in Hank to replace the stern tube.  Apparently a blister in the fiberglass stern tube had finally worked its way through the concrete ballast creating a leak I could never find.  I even pulled the boat out, inspected the entire bottom, and did new bottom paint without finding a leak.  When back in the water, I still had salt water seeping in around the lower portion of the stern bulkhead.  I cut out the fibreglass/plywood deck in the lazarette, slowly chipped out the concrete and steel punchings until I exposed the leaking tube.  I then removed the tube, chipped out the remaining concrete all the way to the bottom of the keel, and replaced the tube with new.  I then replaced the ballast with a combination of lead ingots, weights, bars,  and lead shot.  I'm going back with the fibreglass/plywood deck panel, but loweredf to the top of the lead.  Feel free to ask anything about the process.