I was around the yard where the boat was stored and then modded and knew the guy that did a lot of the work, but it was a lot of years ago now. The original owner basically took a sailboat hull and overwhelmed it with a big steel house and a big diesel engine. The boat was really tender and would squat badly at speed. The next owner hired Howard Appolonio to try and come up with improvements. They basically added the bottom tank, a bunch of steel including that I-beam to try and get some stability and a big bustle to try and add volume aft to help the squat. I don't know how successful any of that was.
It seems now, as others have mentioned, that it'd be pretty easy to bolt on some weight to either side of the I-beam. Look at the space available, do some calcs to determine if you can do it out of steel if not cast some lead.
I went to the yacht sale/design shop a week ago, where Howard A. is listed as the founder. Unfortunately, Howard is not involved in things anymore and the gents at the office did not have any recollection of my boat's design corrections.
Yesterday, I've read the survey report back from 2008, when the description of the vessel included this:
' This is a 54' custom steel vessel that is a Bruce Robert's design for a motorsailer that was modified by Glen Freidhom to a pilothouse vessel.'
I have searched the mentioned name above, but I could not find anything about him. The B.R. web site has no phone number listed. Lots of plans to buy, but no address, no contact info.
I also called the previous owner, but he told me there was no modification during his ownership. He thought the first owner might not be around, since he was in his 70s, when the boat was sold in 2008.
So, I am stuck. I cannot find any data about this boat.
I hoped to have something for an architect, when I find one to design me a bilge keel solution.
It seems, I need to find someone in my area on the Columbia river, who could visit the boat, when it is out on the yard this summer.
Anyone can suggest a naval architect around Ilwaco, WA boatyard?