Weight Balance : Livewell, Battery, Gas Tank

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dneaster3

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I've got a 14'4" 1960's Lonestar that I'm converting into a duck/buck/crappie chaser. I'm nearing the decking stage and I want to get the weight distribution correct the first time.

The 20hp Johnson and gas can go in the back.
The switch plate goes in the back.
The livewell can be up front or in back
The battery can be up front or in back

Thoughts?
 

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i would go with A cuase when you fill your live well with water thats alot of weight and will help the weight the front of the boat down
 
When I was trying to figure mine out - a 1236 - I temporarily moved the components around and took the boat out to test the different configurations. I made a couple of mistakes. First I underestimated the weight of the deck in front. I had moved the battery and gas tank both to the front to get them out of my way. With a temporary plywood floor and the battery and gas in front it seemed fine so I proceeded with that configuration. In spite of the fact that I used lightweight materials, once the deck was finished the weight distribution was too far forward and I couldn't get it to plane. I moved the battery to the back and it's better now.

The second and harder problem to solve is that with really small boats like mine, adding the weight of a second fisherman changes everything. I have to change the tilt of the motor depending on whether I am by myself or with my fishing partner. Maybe your boat is big enough so this won't be a problem, but with mine the CG would change even if I had a livewell and used it sometimes and not others.

I don't know anything about boat design but I picture the design of a small boat like mine to basically include one person on the center seat with a pair of oars. Any departure from that and everything changes. My brother had a 16.5' Crestliner with a 70 hp Suzuki and you could move around without any apparent change in the handling of the boat. Mine is completely different. Seems like the best bet is to test out your options and try to get it right the first time like you said...
 
A boat is a giant lever: the prop is the force, the water is the fulcrum and the weight is the work. The more weight you have in the front (bow) the more work it will take to get it out of the water. You want the bow out of the water, that's the whole point of a planing hull.

Batteries do not do well in the bow due to the pounding, it shortens their life considerably. Live wells don't do well either, bait and fish don't do well when they are being pounded. Keep bow storage for things like anchors, dry storage and life jackets.

So basically you have the aft 1/3-1/2 of the boat to work with. Now, consider that you need to build the boat to handle the LIGHTEST trim it will handle safely. A pilot and his/her gear loaded for the program of the boat; let's say fishing. We will call this the design program.

Based on this I would install the live-well close to the center of the boat. In fact I would put the front of the live-well even with the centerline (latitudinal) of the hull, leaving the bulk of the live-well just aft of the latitudinal centerline. 2 reasons 1) easy to reach for one or two people, 2) can easily add or subtract weight when needed (fill or empty). I would install the battery aft on the port side as the pilot will be sitting on the starboard side running the boat. How far to port depends on the weight of the pilot and how close to the center of gravity you can sit while operating the boat.

Setting the boat up like this will allow it to be the most efficient when singlhanded. When a second or third person is added you will need to move weight around (people and gear), re-trim the motor or use something like trim tabs to increase hydrodynamic efficiencies.

In my 14 footer I am placing the batteries just fore of the rear seat in the centerline of the boat, my fuel tank is aft of the rear seat and I don't have a live-well to deal with.

That's not to say you CAN'T put the live-well or battery forward, just some things to consider. You need to be in and out of the live-well often, make it easy to get to for everyone. The battery only gets touched when charging, keep it out of the way.

Given your three choices (and locations) I would submit a D:
Battery to port, aft
Live-well to starboard, aft
fuel to fore deck, center

If it were mine:
Battery to port, aft
Fuel to starboard, aft
Live-well to just aft of center (latitudinal) and centered on the "floor" longitudinal centerline.
When piloting by myself I would run with the live-well full (80 pounds of water ~ 10 gal)
Everything else under fore deck.
 
I like Rat's answer the best. I woudl not put the live well all the way in the bow - I would move the fuel and battery to midships
 

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