Ballast & 26' Crosby Tug

[Tugboat Willie]

Hello,

I'm in the process of removing various pieces of iron/steel that are sitting in decayed cement in the keel of a 26' Crosby Tug. This, after stripping boat down to hull alone. I'm trying to decide on the best approach to add ballast back into the keel before rebuilding the boat. Druthers would be to add ballast directly into the keel, but hesitant to put back cement and iron.

Any recommendations?

Thank you,
Patrick

 

[Old Sea Dog]

Lead or gold whichever is cheaper. Probably the cement without the iron.

 

[CharlieO.]

I agree with OSD. just cement without the iron/steel fillers.

 

[jungpeter]

I agree with OSD. just cement without the iron/steel fillers.

Guess I'd have to politely disagree. To achieve similar stability and trim, you'll need to replicate the existing ballast weight and CG. Concrete alone won't do it. Personally, I'd bed lead ingots into the keel void and/or hull bottom, making sure they were properly secured, without concrete. Certainly more expensive than concrete, but you'll need far less volume to achieve the same result.

Regards,

Pete

 

[Benthic2]

Are you removing ballast that was put there by the builder, or a previous owner ? If it was put there by the builder I would be a lot more worried about keeping the boat the way it was. What's wrong with steel and iron. Do you care if it only lasts 25 years instead of 75 ?

Edit: Crosby is still in business. I would be talking to them.

https://www.crosbyyacht.com/crosby-tug/

 

[Jeff F]

How much ballast is required? Lead shot should be easy to pour in, and might be fine just lying in the bottom of the keel. In the old days people used to pour resin in on top to glue it all in place.

Love the Crosby Tug. Got pics? Sounds like a complete restoration.

 

[PhilPB]

I would just do with the concrete. I removed a couple of very heavy steel weights that I assume were put there originally to compensate for the batteries on the opposite side of the boat. Each chunk of rust weighed around 70lbs. I used 2 bags of 80lb concrete each encapsulated in double 3mil plastic bags. Worked great for me

 

[Tugboat Willie]

Thank you all! Here's a few pics of the 1978 WIP, it's a project. The cement holding the iron/steel in place had decayed to a lose dirt, in sweeping it up, the various steel/iron pieces became exposed and most were just lose in the void.

I only uncovered the bow section, starting in on the rest this weekend. She's shallow draft and a rolley bottom so I'd like to keep as much weight in the keel as possible. Is mixing lead pellets w/cement before pouring into the space a viable option?

I've reached out to Crosby as well.

Thank you,

 

[Comodave]

I have added ballast to a previous boat using 65 pound lead ingots. Then I fiberglass ped them in place to secure them and also to seal the lead in so it wouldn’t be hazardous. Worked well and was easy to do.

 

[Tugboat Willie]

So I added the recommended lead/cement/glass......good to go there, but now need to add engine stringers inside the frames that were glassed. Prior, someone bolted PT beams to the glassed frames. In lieu of, I'm thinking white oak, Sapele or KD Doug fir. Only issue, all three in short supply within 50 miles of boat. Is kiln-dried a must or is a "partially air-dried" Doug Fir OK if I'm just going to put a few coats of resin on them?

 

[OldDan1943]

IMO as ex-forester, no fir. Best, white oak kiln dry, encapsulated