Estimating CG Shift with Heavy Engines

[sidelock]

Originally Posted by Bushwacker

I think it's safe to assume that both Moesly and Potter, who were both pilots so they understood the impact of cg location on performance and handling, put the fuel tank on the boats CG so it wouldn't change trim as fuel was burned off. So if you figure that the CG of the complete hull was located at center of fuel tank with a 300 lb motor on the transom, you should be able to back calculate where the CG of the bare hull would have to be.

Understood ! Thanks.

[McGillicuddy]

Originally Posted by Terry England

Denny, have you ever been able to put enough weight in your cabin to make your Seacraft "plow"? I have loaded so much crap in the front of mine that it sat bow down at the dock where the winch eye was in the water, but when I get going it still runs with the bow up and handles perfectly. I don't have much of a motor back there to counterbalance the weight either. Has anyone on here ever moved their gas tank and batteries too far forward to make the VDH hull plow? Just wondering?

What the heck is yer problem pirate? Elekshun gone to yer head? lost yer head? you wants ta plow? gets yerself a stump pullin Morgan er a Percheron er sumpin n move to Ioway.

Johnny Law Ayers would have a chitfit if heard yer try to make a Marshtackie Cracker plow...sheeshus. Good thing (thanks to Mr. Moesly) Marshtackie knows to lift er head n run to herd up big cow hogs...

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Terry England

Denny, have you ever been able to put enough weight in your cabin to make your Seacraft "plow"? I have loaded so much crap in the front of mine that it sat bow down at the dock where the winch eye was in the water, but when I get going it still runs with the bow up and handles perfectly. I don't have much of a motor back there to counterbalance the weight either. Has anyone on here ever moved their gas tank and batteries too far forward to make the VDH hull plow? Just wondering?

Hey Terry,

I don't know that I've ever had enough weight in the cabin to put the towing eye in the water, but I've NEVER had the sensation it wanted to steer by the bow, no matter how much gear I've had up front, even in big following seas! Since the 20' hull is basically identical to the old 19' Bowrider below the chines, and Moesly designed the Bowrider for the weight of 2-3 adults in the bow compartment, I believe its got enough lift in the forward sections of the hull to pretty well keep you out of trouble with just about any weight you can physically put up in the cabin. You've probably experienced that with all the coolers and dive tanks you can load up front in the Marshtackie!

Carla says on her web site that the Bowrider layout was such a big hit at the 1965 Miami boat show, that other builders immediately began to copy it. However the early copies didn't handle too well however, because unlike Moesly, the copycats neglected to build enough lift and buoyancy into the forward hull sections to handle the extra weight up front!