Ballast at the bow of the rib

[two stroke mick]

Hello

I am wondering how many of you out there uses ballast on the front of the rib to help keep the bow down in a head sea. This allows for the bow to cut through the top of the approching wave rather than just riding over it.

I am still experinmenting with by DR 490 and it would appear to like a lot of weight in the bow circa 20-25 kg.

TSM

[K&S]

When using a searider 5.4 i frequently get people to slide fore and aft to suit the conditions.
I would not deliberately move too much static weight there as in a following sea or miss judgment of an oncoming wave could lead to a stuffing that could have been avoided.

[K&S]

Perhaps locate the fuel tank there if not already would give you that sort of weight for at least part of the time ??

In our searider we have the reverse problem and now looking at siting the fuel tanks at the stern.

[Nasher]

Some of us in the solent have had access to the ultimate mobile flexible Ballast system which can be moved fore and aft at request.

Its called the:-

'Oi Hightower, run up to the Bow mate' system.

Nasher.

[jambo]

Hi like K&S I tend to load the front depending on the sea state and the number of passengers and also how my fuel tank is as I have a 40 gall mid tank on my Ribcraft.
Hope it helps
J

[chewy]

One the 75's we use the ballast loads, its good to get you where you want to be but not as much fun as running with no ballast.

I personally think the 21 was the best inshore boat, you only need to look at how long it was in production for compared to the 75.

You fly higher without ballast too.........

[Apherel]

My old boat was much more settled with around 20-30 kg of fixed weight in the bow. I used sand in a soft bag so it could be dumped if ever needed.

Someone on here suggested using sand in old inner tubes tied off with cable ties.

[two stroke mick]

I generally have 4 or 5 1 gallon cans of petrol in the bow to settle the rib

[Stoo]

My dive tanks pretty much live up there... one or two sets of doubles... and they make great ballast. I can't actually lift them out of the boat, so they just stay there~

[Simon B]

Likewise;

30l fuel container or a divers twinset or everyones weightbelts.