"Shawn" wrote in message
...
hi all

I have a Halvorsen Island Gypsy 30 displacement cruiser built in 1978. The
boat has the original Ford 120hp engine. I have owned the boat for a
couple
of months. Someone has placed about 10 ingots of lead in the bow "v" which
sit unsecured but somewhat wedged and immobile.

The boat sits quite level (if anything with a slight bias toward being low
in the bows - not surprising) and floats within its marked waterline
(apparently fine).

Does anyone know if this is a standard fitting or has someone just had a
bright idea at sometime and should I take it all out? I would have thought
this would have been glassed in if it were deemed necessary by the
manufacturer . . . Kong and Halvorsen.

Placing lead in the bow of a boat is a relatively common practice.
Especially with large boats. The lead helps keep the boat sitting level and
helps it plane easier with smaller engines. I had a 68' Luhrs Sport
fisherman with a 318 Chrysler crown and it had a little over 500lbs of lead
in the bow. You can remove it but will find the boat will not be as stable
in rough water and will not plane as easily. I would leave it and if you
are concerned with it moving around then pour some A/B foam around it. That
stuff is so "sticky" it now use as an adhesive in some applications...

mark