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Water Ballast

Hi Chuck --

I don't know if this is of interest to many people on the planet besides you and me and a few crazed Bolger and Michalak builders -- but I thought I'd show you the tank plug arrangement I've worked out for Cormorant.

Each ballast tank has two 1.25" holes drilled in the bottom. (That was a counterintuitive thing to do!) To make sure I don't lose my plugs inside the tank, I tied them in with 1/8" Dacron cord -- tough, non-rotting stuff. I screwed and epoxied one end of that cord to the tank bottom, and epoxied the knot holding onto the plug handle so it won't come undone. Each cord is long enough to lift the plug up out of its top 5" inspection port and lay it on the tank top while the water drains out, so it doesn't get sucked back into the hole.

It took a little extra searching to find the 1.25" plugs, but pi*r^2 told me that a mere extra 0.25" in diameter would give about 56% greater area of the hole -- faster fill and drain times.

I've since gotten my ballast tank tops on, and now I'm working on decking over the cockpit. Things are really marching along nicely now.

All best,
Garth

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