Removing weight from stern good/bad idea?

LegacyT

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jul 7, 2011
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Thinking of one day maybe building a 383 with aluminum heads and manifolds/rises. Also thinking about rebuilding the engine cover and rear seat boxes out of lightweight coosa board. Question is will this be detrimental to the boats center of gravity? These changes would move the CG forward. Is there too much weight to be removed from the stern? Is a boat suppose to have a heavy cast iron engine and exhaust right in the back for handling?
 

proshadetree

Lieutenant Commander
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Jul 19, 2008
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I really don't think removing some weight will be detrimental to the handling of the craft. Now I do not mean removing all the weight from the rear and leaving the bow heavy will be a good thing. Bow riders for example with to many people in the forward seating normally do not plane well and tend to drop the nose under deceleration. From what I understand you are only talking about a few hundred pounds and should be fine.
 

tpenfield

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Jul 18, 2011
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powerboats tend to be stern heavy. So, you might actually see a positive effect by reducing weight in the stern.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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You will see about a 125# reduction. Not significant enough to really affect balance. Especially since you will need to add a full cooling system to manage corrosion. That will add 70# back
 

LegacyT

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jul 7, 2011
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Aren't you able to run raw water cooling with aluminum parts in freshwater? Heard of quite a few guys doing it
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Many people do. If you keep it a freshwater only boat
 

zool

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Aug 19, 2012
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You shouldn't notice much difference, imo. Boats this size aren't that precision in balance. Some days you may have two ppl in the rear seats, others not. The scum line will be different at rest is all. Trim tabs would solve any balance issues under way, but that's with most boats....
 

Rickmerrill

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Mar 13, 2014
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Wow Zool, I was thinking this was complicated but small boats get big weight shifts all the time - people move about.
 
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