ballast joint location?

[Rolf]

While motoring in LA harbor yesterday with 5 people total on board, I made the bone head decision to plow through a nearby towboat wake at 13 knots and ended up airborn and coming down HARD.

Everything seems fine, but I was wondering if there was a way to check the ballast/hull joint location just to make sure. Anybody here familiar with its location, and is it visible? Thnx in advance.
Rolf
2002x-albatross

[mike]

I would think it would not be visible/accessible. Perhaps an alternate way of checking it would be to ensure the bilge is completely dry, put the boat in the water, and fill the ballast tank... if water ends up in the bilge, you might have a problem. Another idea, if you're concerned about whether or not its possible to get the bilge completely dry, or that some other water leak source (sink drain thru-hulls, perhaps) might interfere with the test, is to put some sort of dye (food coloring maybe?) in the ballast tank, so that it would be obvious that any water found had come from the tank.

--Mike

[Rolf]

My bilge has always stayed dry, so the filled ballast test it is. If water pours into bilge(I'm pretty sure it won't), I'll let you all know (probably 4 weeks till my next trip/sail), but first I have outboard motor maintenance due and a waterski trip planned(someone else's power boat). Thanks.
Rolf

[Billy]

Wouldn't it be easier to air test? Close the vent. At the drain use a 3" ABS or PVC cap. Drill the cap to hold a valve stem and a 3/4" piece of plastic pipe (about a inch or two long). Slide the cap over the drain and tape it. Put a balloon over the 3/4 inch pipe and tape it. Apply air pressure with the drain open. The balloon inflates. If the balloon deflates you have a leak. (Must rule out leakage at vent & drain. I am assuming the open drain will not leak at the gate.)

I would think the ballast seams actually serve to strengthen the hull. Was the ballast full or empty? Just curious.

[Frank C]

While motoring in LA harbor yesterday with 5 people total on board, I made the bone head decision to plow through a nearby towboat wake at 13 knots and ended up airborn and coming down HARD.

Hi Rolf,
I think the context of ballast tank seam ruptures has been misconstrued.

Macgregor builds a light, quite sturdy powersailer. Criticism of seeing daylight thru the skin is widespread hogwash. The boat is thin and light for good reasons ... performance under sail and easy trailering. It's intended for weekending in protected waters, maybe light coastal conditions. The light rig meets similar performance and trailering criteria. Since the hull is light, the rig is pushing much less weight under sail than keel sailors are accustomed to. The rig meets the overall design criteria.

The ballast tank is hand-laid into the hull. It's a quite sturdy design, ample for normal usage. That includes the occasional jump from top of a wave or swell with a hard landing. The seam is not fragile, and I seriously doubt you've got a problem with yours. As I mentioned not long ago, I'm not apologist for the factory, I'm simply reporting what I've heard, read, and experienced during the past five years (not five weeks).

Same is true for trailering the boat with tanks full. The design envelope includes those owners who focus on sailing, and cannot empty ballast with their little kickers. They might number in the hundreds, they trailer the boat to drain ballast, and the factory speaks to it in manual and glossies. (I'm personally less comfortable with hoisting the boat with full ballast on only two slings, but I'm sure many do so). These ballast scenarios are within the basic design envelope.

Now guess at the factory's approach to a request to "oversize" the motor. Is this guy planning to head offshore for tuna? Does he just want a big, light motor cruiser/racer to jump surf? Will he mercilessly pound the hull from wave to wave, trying to race some Fountain big-block? These scenarios probably scare the factory. These scenarios might not be too unlikely, if you've read some hypotheses on this forum during the past month.

If you received a request to over-size YOUR design of a hybrid vehicle, you might permute "that owners" service envelope to abnormal degree also. I've heard of only one failed ballast seam in five years. I've had my boat pounded in Bay chop a few times too. I don't fear for it's integrity in the least, nor should you. I continue to check my bilges from time to time. They remain dusty.

[Scott]

Frank, in regards to daylight through the skin. You CAN see daylight through the skin in a few spots on my boat. (Under both sinks)

This has nothing to do with thickness however. It is because they lay the gellcoat in the mold first and tape off the different colors.

Any gap between the colors allows light to seep through as the underlying layers of resyn and glass are uncolored. (Not quite clear.)

This would be true on any boat with no core in the layup.

I still have great confidence in my boat, we thrash it every weekend and have yet to damage it from stress. Ive done more damage to it on my driveway than in the water.

I have in the past torn boats up by pushing them too hard, (Broke the mast on my dingy last year)

Thank heavens for advancements in materials and engineering technology.

[Rolf]

Sorry took me so long to respond. The ballast tank was empty. Because of the angle and speed we hit the towboat wake, I think the whole boat was airborn for a split second(at least it sure felt like it). The boat landed uniformly at the bottom of the trough, with such impact the inside liner rattled along with the mast (and everything not tied down), of course, which was extra secured by the jib halyard tied to bow pulpit.

I baby my boat pretty badly, so I'm probably over-reacting to normal occasional boat abuse I usually pretty well avoid. I'm heading to Catalina july 9-10, so I'll let you all know if I sink. Thnks for all the input,
Rolf

[Don T]

Hello:
If you do an air pressure check don't forget to allow for atmospheric changes.