by Alan » Wed Jan 12, 2011 8:09 pm
Thanks, Jay. The diagram is helpful, especially if I visualize the righting arm as a torque wrench with a 90-degree offset attachment.
Hopefully, either 1) I'll never need to find out how the battery weight affects the chances of a capsize or 2) the boat will perform as I hope, with the side of the hull acting as a buoyant fulcrum and the battery weight counteracting the downward pull of the wind on the mast.
At the moment, the batteries are in trays screwed to the cuddy floor on either side of the centerboard trunk and held down by nylon straps. Something like your battery boxes would be a lot more secure, I suspect.
When I've had the boat on the water, it felt pretty stable, but the winds were either very light or so strong that we didn't put the sails up at all. And of course I have no standard of comparison, since I've never been out without the batteries.
Oh yeah, and there are four of them, Cabela's group 27s at 62.5 pounds each, because I started with a 24-volt trolling motor and figured I'd need two banks of batteries in case we were becalmed off of Fiji, or something.
And speaking of trolling motors, I've had a little experience with those, so I'll post some thoughts over on the outboard motor thread.