Ballast - 2000

I wanted to use lead, but the price was so high, up to .50 per pound that using it was prohibitive. We needed to put in 14,000 pounds, so I didn't want to waste $7,000, with which I could have bought a small airplane. The thought of putting the equivalent of a small airplane in the bilge and covering it up was unthinkable..

So low and behold a trip to the local recycling yard yielded a whole dumpster full of reinforcing rod. You know the stuff they use in cement. It is steel round stock with a lot of bumps on it. Well it seems this stuff was left over from the local Clinton dock rebuild project and it was coated with epoxy to prevent rusting from the sea water. Because it was covered with epoxy the scrap yards can't take it to melt down, something about environmental impact. So this was the first time the government has been on my side! I bought the whole works for $400.00, delivered! Yes there is a GOD.

So the next question was... how to get it into the ship when it arrived all tangled and twisted as shown below. Yikes!

As you can see, quite a pile of potential ballast. Now it needed to be cut into various lengths (10" to 12", to fit in between the floor uprights in the hull, hence the metal cutting band saw in the foreground, and Gnettie. Would you believe this little girl spent 8 weeks, cutting the steel so it could fit into the floor uprights as shown below.
   
What I had to do was measure in between the uprights, and then tell Gnettie to cut so many to fit. I would then weigh each bundle as they were set in.

By doing this I was able to do a complete weight and balance for the ship. I needed to have the center of gravity in the middle of the ship at the widest part. So just like the Boeing guys do, I wrote a weight and balance program with Visual Basic where I was able to put in the weights and the measurements from a datum. The computer would grind and burp and finally tell me where the center a gravity was.

(Don't you miss the old computers with the flashing lights? I know I do.)

Once I was satisfied with the amount of weight in each section I then filled it all in with cement. Nope not concrete, cement. Concrete is cement mixed with sand and gravel, and the minute I added sand to the mix it wouldn't run in between the rods and fill up the gaps.		 After a couple of weeks Gnettie wore out the old steel cutting band saw (tough kid) so we had to go buy a new Steel Cutoff saw. This thing showered sparks about 25 feet out from the blade. The neighbors came over and wondered what the heck we were doing. At times we thought the same thing!
   
I also had to cut round 3" holes in each floor upright to allow water to run from the front of the ship all way to the back. You know, in case there is ever a leak! This picture shows a view of the hole cutout Here is the first glob of cement poured into place. It too had to be weighed and noted for the weight and balance. So this is how we both proceeded for 8 solid weeks, cutting, torching, fitting, weighing and cementing.
   
Here it is all trawled out, ready for the sealer coat. I was going to fiberglass over the cement, but on further thought I wanted it to be able to breath, so I just painted it over with epoxy paint. Here is the cement nicely painted and ready for the floor to go in. Cool! At this point in time the ship weighs a total of 25,000 pounds. It should be about 35,000 pounds when fully loaded with people, supplies and gear, I mean beer.