Halcyon 27 ballast
 

Hello,

Hoping there are some people who are familiar with Halcyon 27s on the
list who might help with a query.

I have just bought Halcyon 27 'Jobiska'. We are generally very pleased
with her, but have come across one rather concerning problem.

In the bottom of the transom locker there is a quantity of loose,
corroded iron. The individual pieces are shaped like an ice-lolly stick,
being about 2 inches long and 1/4 wide. It looks like corroded ballast.

It seems to lie in the space just above the prop.

Questions:

Is this a normal place for ballast on an H27? Seems quite high up, only
just being below the waterline. Most importantly, is this physically
connected to the rest of the ballast in the keel -- i.e is it all likely
to be corroded?(!!) A survey 2 years ago found no problems.

Is it ballast added subsequently to change fore/aft trim? Jobiska has an
extra water tank in the forepeak and the chain locker has been moved to
right in the bow, so someone might have tried to counterbalance the
extra weight forward with some ballast in the stern.

Thanks very much for comments


Mark
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Dear Mark,

I purchased my first Halcyon in 1972 from the factory which I sold in 1981. The second on I purchased in 2002 in Holland and I intend keeping her.

From memory all the ballast suplied by the factory is encapsulated in the keel. However there was a comissioning service available, which included adding triming ballast. This was either/or a square cast iron block glassed in under the triangular piece of wood that is the fore cabin sole, or under the engine. Therefore I believe your ballast has nothing to do with the factory. It is my belief that Halcyons are marginally faster if trimmed down at the head very slightly.

An alleged weekness of Halcyons is the suport for the mast by the deck. Useing my diabolical memory, what hapened is this. A halcyon called Mary Anne was raced on the Medway. The skipper got tired of every one he had passed going upwind, repassing him going down wind, so he had an extra large spinaker made. One day he got caught with it up with 30+ mph of wind. After reaching some extraordinary speed his boat broached. The gel coat around the mast had egg shell fracture marks.

On my first Halcyon I stiffened the bulkheads by framing them in teak and adding cross members above the doors to support the deck. These certainly took some load. My second boat some one has added some steel girders to the structure, directly transfering the load from deck to bulkhead.

Enjoy your Halcyon,

Rhys