Need Advice on Battery Placement

[slowshoes]

  I'm still in the middle of a refit of my new to me 1981 16. The boat didn't come with a battery and only came with a very old overhead interior light and a broken masthead tricolor light. The wiring to both lights is old and will be replaced along with both lights. I'll be adding a small breaker panal along with new interior lights as well as running lights.

  I've read that the 16's tend to drag their stern, and my 6hp Nissan outboard won't help in that regard. I'm thinking of putting my battery all the way forward. I also like having an anchor ready to go, so that will be hanging from the bow pulpit. I'll have chain as part of my rode as well. I'm hoping that the weight forward will help counteract crew weight and the weight of the outboard.

  Do you think this will be too much weight up forward for the 16? I'll be sailing in Lake Erie for part of the season, so I'll have chop to contend with. I'm concerned that going to windward in chop will be a very wet ride with so much weight forward.

Any advice/opinions would be appreciated.

[JBC]

Don't know the weight of your 6hp, but I've had a 55 lb Merc 4 stroke motor on my 16 once in a while (I mostly use a 2.5 Suzuki 4 stroke which is just over 30 lbs).  I keep a 45 lb battery forward in the bow stowage area and I also hang an anchor with chain on the bowsprit.  Either motor works well, though I prefer the lighter one for the best balance.

Jett

[slowshoes]

Thanks for the reply Jett. My outboard weighs 58 lbs - pretty heavy. That's why I thought the weight up forward may actually be beneficial. It sounds like your sailing with much of the same equipment forward that I'll have. Is the boat fairly dry in a chop on the wind, or does the bow tend to pound with the extra weight forward?

  Bill

[kearns]

You don't need to worry about having too much weight forward.  That is where the batter is intended to go ... my 1987 16-II has nylon straps bolted in to hold the battery in place just behind the electrical panel. Along with the anchor setup, as you describe, I don't get any spray in a chop. My experience in the CP16 is that weight forward helps.  Even when sailing, I don't sit all the way at the back, but rather near the center of the cockpit. You don't want to have this boat squatting ... it won't move.

Kevin

[Pacman]

Go ahead with your plan to locate your battery on the bow.

I have seen many, if not most, C-16s with their sterns dragging deep in the water and slowing them down. 

Too much weight at the stern really kills boatspeed and makes the boats slow to tack.

In terms of sailing performance, it is as important to balance your boat as it is to trim your sails.

You are definitely on the right track. 

You want your boat, when fully loaded with motor, gear, and people, to be level, for/aft so neither the stern or bow is too low in the water.

When you get really good at sailing her on her lines, you will use your passengers as movable ballast to trim the boat for the best performance for upwind and downwind points of sail.

[JBC]

Bill,

Ditto the points made by Kearns and Pacman.

Jett

[MacGyver]

My boss tells me that (name escapes me) says that a perfectly balance boat where you move to the center and the boat sails through the wated parting the water molecules at the bow and reconnexting them at the stern with no gurgle, then she is in perfect harmony.

Now doing that.........thats another story. LOL

Mac

[skip1930]

Battery weight as far fwd as possible.

skip.

[slowshoes]

  Thanks for all the replies guys -I appreciate it. It looks like I'll go ahead and put the anchor, chain and battery forward and see how it goes. It's encouraging to hear that there's not much spray in a chop with weight forward. I'm hoping to put pur 16 in the water before winter takes hold so I can get a feel for the boat. I got my new sails and outboard, so even though I won't be done with my refit of the boat before winter (not even close) I should be able to get a couple of sails in before the snow starts to fly.

  Thanks again for all the advice

    Bill

[Jason]

Hi!  I got an '81 C16 last winter and did some similar upgrades. I put the battery all the way up front in a plastic battery box and screwed it in place in the bow. The anchor line coils up next to it. I also put a big ole 10lb claw anchor on an anchor roller on the bow. All the weight up front has worked out nicely to counter the weight of the motor and bratwurst-loving wisonsonites in the cockpit.  I ran an electrical system with depth finder, bilge, lights, fan, int light, 12v jack, with a sealed electronics box mounted inside to the port side of the companionway.

Also, bought a new mainsail and jib from hutchins last month, they are Rolly Tasker sails, 1 reef point, plastic jib hanks, bolt rope on the main foot, plastic slugs on the luff, leach lines on both main and jib. Quality looks good.

Jason

[Saluki86]

Jason,

You dont have pictures of your electrical system do you?  Thinking about adding nav lights, interior lights, etc to a C16 and just wondering about the wire routing/hiding, where to put the panel (campanionway vs. next to compression post), etc.

Thanks,
sal

[Ted]

I have had my battery upfront for the past two years. My boat is in the water about 360 days a year, tied to a mooring in a small lake in Florida. I have a small solar panel (used to transport cars over the ocean to the US - you can get them on ebay) that has topped off the battery faithfully. I use an electric trolling motor occasionally, and I have full lights and a radio that I installed when I got the boat. I only ever use the radio or lights when I go over to the Banana River for a day or overnighter.

Recently, the battery stopped recharging and I took it out to figure out where the problem might be. Upon return to the boat, I put in the back because I wasn't sure if it was coming out again right away and it's easier to work with back there.  The battery and the panel have tested out fine so I am not sure why I have the problems. It could be due to a bad connection once or twice (alligator clips).

In any case... since moving the battery to the rear I have noticed is that the cockpit self-bails much better. The tilt toward the scuppers gives me a dry cockpit floor when I arrive to sail. It rains very hard here and I was often having standing water in the cockpit.  This past week I sailed four times and was paying attention to how it sailed with the battery in the rear. I personally can't tell much of a difference when under way. I think the saltier sailors probably can, but not me.

I will put it back up front, though, because when I lock up the cabin I feel better that the battery won't be carted off in the middle of the night.

[slowshoes]

  Jason,

 If you do post pics of your electrical system for sal, could you post a pic of your bow roller too. That's another modification I plan on doing (along with a chain pipe on deck) so if you or any other members have pics, I'd love to see them.

   Ted - I may be leaving my 16 in the water for part of the sailing season , so your thoughts on drainage and charging are appreciated. I have a small solar panel on my other boat that's really undersized, so I'm going to give it a go for my 16.

      Thanks,
       Bill

[Jason]

Hi Folks,  Been away for a bit, please excuse the delay in my response.  For my electrical system I put the battery all the way forward.  Used marine grade 14AWG insulated copper wires and did my best to make tight connections (I'm not an electrician).  I used the liquid electrical tape all over the place.  I put a main fuse at the battery and then located all the other fuses (1 fuse for each device, in the electrical box).  I added the following appliances:
-Front red/green light, which I mounted on the bow pulpit.  I drilled a hole through the deck right into the bow pulpit tube and snaked the wires through.
-adjustable high white light at the stern, I wired in an "anchor light" switch which turns off the front red/green light
-interior LED light
-interior fan
-12V power socket
-bilge pump (don't think it's too useful as I located it in the stern, but that location would only get wet after there was quite a bit of water in the boat)
-Depth Finder.  This I mounted directly through the fiberglass from where the electrical box is, so the wires just run straight into the electrical box.

Built the electrical box from a grey plastic hardware store electrical box.  I covered up all the wires in corrigated plastic tube, which I secured to the hull with screws into the hull/deck joint which I resealed as well.  One trick that worked pretty well was holding up the run of wired from the cabin back to the stern by compressing a long length of hard plastic foam (actually a gutter-guard product from Ace) the whole length of the coaming, and the wires are held up into the coaming by it. 




Not the prettiest system as far as interior finish, but it functioned well this year.

-Jason