c.1980 SPORT 15 List to Starboard

[K wester]

Q1: when underway with only one person aboard, is an apparent list to Starboard on a c.1980 SPORT 15 boat due to the side console being on the Starboard side?

ASIDE: my c.1980 SPORT 15 boat has the original wood interior. The wood is ready to be varnished.

POSSIBLE CHANGES FOR MY SPORT 15

I may install a fiberglass center console [in order to] place the batteries for the engine and for a trolling motor there. And I may install a center cooler seat to get more storage. I may install a center fuel tank just behind the new center console.

I may do all that in order to keep the weight in the boat on center.

I may be over-thinking [the tendency for my c.1980 SPORT 15 to list to Starboard when only one person is aboard].


Somewhere [unspecified the author says he] read [something unspecified] about [locating] weight in the [stern] of SPORT 15 boats.

I want to keep the space [empty] behind the seat [to permit] egress to a ladder at a sand bar.

[Moved to THE GAM for general discussion.]

[jimh]

Q1: when underway with only one person aboard, does an apparent list to Starboard on a c.1980 SPORT 15 boat due to the side console being on the Starboard side?

The hull of any small, lightweight boat with a rounded bottom will respond rapidly to placement of significant weight off centerline. Another significant influence will be the location of any large and heavy lead-acid storage battery in the boat.

[jimh]

I may install...[long list of planed changed]...

Generally attempts to alter the interior configuration of classic Boston Whaler boats must be done to an extremely high level of design and execution, as otherwise some rework of the original design is likely to be seen not so much as an improvement but rather as a mistake.

An important consideration in turning a classic 15-foot hull into a center console model is the absence of any rigging tunnel provided in the boat as a conduit for the many cables which would be required to run from the center console to the engine for steering control, engine battery connection, engine wiring harness connections, engine remote shift and throttle connections, engine fuel lines, and cable or hoses associated with engine gauges or SONAR devices,

In your announced plans you make no mention of how you would accomplish the provision of a rigging tunnel. Leaving all of those hoses, mechanical cables, and electrical cables laying on the deck would be a disaster.

In regard to overcoming a tendency for the hull to list to Starboard when there is only one person aboard and they are sitting at the helm side console: If this is the typical mode of operation the list could easily be overcome by moving the engine starting battery to be on the Port side at the transom, and moving the on-deck fuel tank to the Port side. In addition, shifting your seating position to be more on-center will affect the lateral trim. All of these seem much simpler remedies than your plan as a means of overcoming a list to Starboard when operating the boat with only one person aboard.

[jimh]

I want to keep the space [empty] behind the seat [to permit] egress to ladder at a sand bar.

Given the extremely low freeboard height of the gunwales on a SPORT 15, I would be surprised that use of a ladder to board the boat from the sea at a sand bar where the bow of the boat was ashore would be necessary. I would think you could easily step aboard the boat from the water without use of a boarding ladder. (I owned a SPORT 15 for many years.)

The only use for a boarding ladder that I could envision for a SPORT 15 would be permit a swimmer in deep water to get back aboard more easily, particularly if the swimmer was not an athletic person and could not propel themselves upward in the water and onto the low height gunwale of the boat..

Assuming the boarding ladder would not be deployed in other situations, the choice of where to stow the ladder is now a persistent problem in a small boat like a SPORT 15.

ASIDE: Chris and I like to swim in deep water from our 24-foot Boston Whaler boat, but we need a swim ladder to get back aboard. Even on a 24-foot boat there is really no good place to stow the swim ladder when not in use. However, we do carry the ladder at all times on the basis that it is essential safety gear should one of us go overboard and need to be recovered from the sea.

[jimh]

Somewhere [unspecified the author says he recalls he] read [something unspecified] about [locating] weight in the [stern] of SPORT 15 boats.

I believe it is possible to read almost any opinion on almost any topic somewhere online today. Without citing any source, there is no reasonable basis to assign any particular relevancy to your recollection of reading the opinion expressed.

Regarding fore-and-aft trim: a good method to judge the fore-and-aft static trim of any Boston Whaler boat is to observe the location of the engine splash well drains relative to the water line at rest. If the splash well drains at the transom are submerged, there is too much weight in the boat at the stern. This is inferred from the purpose of the drains to act as a means for water captured in the engine splash well to be able to drain to the sea. If those passages are submerged, they are no longer drains but are now ways for water to flow into the splash well. That is opposite to their original designed purpose.