Boat weighing.............

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cweed
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Boat weighing.............

Post by cweed »

Evening, All.

Does anyone have a method for weighing a dinghy at home? Perhaps an obvious basic way, or is the best answer to visit the local weighbridge?

I just want to get a feel for how over, or under, my boats may be, so it doesn't have to be up to nat champs exacting scrutiny!
Pat
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by Pat »

No method, but we weighed ours at the Albacore nationals and it was about 9 kilos over weight. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that we opened the front tank and found about 9 kilos of water! Turns out the bung was leaking and the boat had also been pressure washed nose down to get it ready.
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Ed
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by Ed »

Depends on the weight, but you can often get away with a set of bathroom scales.

Get the boat level and make sure it stays level during the process.

support boat from exact bow and exact stern/transom on blocks.

First put scales under the bow and then the stern and add the values up.

As long as the measuring points are at exactly bow and stern, you should get a roughly reasonably accurate value.

cheers

eib
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phil58490
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by phil58490 »

I agree with Ed,
we used to weigh articulated lorries by 'split' weighing them, cab axels then trailer axels, as the weigh bridge wasn't long enough. Had one lorry that objected to 'split' weighing so took him to a full plate weigh bridge and the weight was 20 kgs lighter on the full plate which could be accounted for by the diesel used to get there. 20 kgs out of his 8 tonnes overweight didn't make any difference to the magistrates decision!
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chris
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by chris »

Yes I've used Ed's way but left the boat on the trolley and put the scales under the three contact points. Then weigh the trolley without the boat and do the sums.
alan williams
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by alan williams »

We used to weigh the hornets by suspending them and using a steelyard balance.
Cheers Al
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PeterV
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by PeterV »

I use Ed's method. Django came out only half a kilo over the original minimum, unfortunately the rules have reduced min weight by many kilos since!
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Rupert
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by Rupert »

Do check the scale, though - our bathroom scales appear to be miles out compared to others.
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Ed
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by Ed »

Ever since writing that this morning (rather early), it has been niggling me....

For some reason I stressed the need to put the measuring point at exactly on the ends of the boat. Of course this isn't necessary at all. As long as the boat doesn't move and you replace each carrying point with some scales, it can only add up to the total mass of the boat. The only reason for doing the ends is that it will be a bit easier and less likely to be affected by a change in angle, causing a difference in mass distribution when moving from one point to the next.

sigh....sure you know what I mean....Amazed that Mike Brigg allowed me to get away with it for the whole day. :-)

eib
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JimC
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by JimC »

The only trouble with the bathroom scale method is that many bathroom scales seem amazingly dependent on having the weight balanced correctly. Much more difficult when perching one end of the boat than when standing on them.
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Ed
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by Ed »

Ah, your scales do that too...

I find if I spend the time and lean forwards and then backwards and finally balance on the last 1/2in whilst leaning forwards at 45deg, I can normally get it to show the 'correct' weight, of course proving that my weight hasn't gone up at all in 20 years. :lol:
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cweed
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Re: Boat weighing.............

Post by cweed »

Thanks for that.....

My scales seem to be increasingly inaccurate as I get older............
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