Securing lead ballast

[Bill Shepherd]

Can anyone suggest a time-proven method of placement of lead ballast pieces so that they won't crash through the flooring or through the cabin top in the event of a turnover? What I have read from Chappell is to place them on battens or the frames. What if one rolls it over? Thanks.

[seo]

Depends on the design. If the hull is a steam-frame boat you might be able to attach strong battens/cleats to the tops of the floor timbers, running fore and aft. It might also work to bore a series of holes in the floor timbers, right near the top, lined up fore and aft, so that a wood bar or length of steel pipe could be slid through the holes. This might be quicker and stronger than battens, which would be relying on screws in tension.
It might be useful for you to visualize what would happen to your hull in a knockdown or capsize. My guess is that when the hull reaches an extreme angle of heel the inside ballast would want to shift to leeward, sliding "up" the hull, spoiling your stability picture as it goes. I have a hard time seeing how the hull could move that airmail the ballast through the coachroof, unless the vessel is pitchpoled and somersaulted. Pretty colorful.
So the first priority might be to install cleats on the hull between the frames to keep the ballast from shifting in a knockdown.
To paraphrase L. F. Herreshof, he didn't like inside ballast because when a vessel ran aground in a seaway the pounding of the hull on sand or ledge would cause the ballast to pound the planks loose, eventually dumping the ballast on the bottom. Sounds logical to me.
Aside from small amounts of trimming ballast, I would at suggest that you consider casting your ballast into a long "plank" and fastening it to the keel from the outside. It improves your stability, and outside ballast will protect the keel in a hard grounding. When the hull drops down and strikes the bottom, the ballast is the first thing to land on the bottom, so its weight isn't contributing to damaging the hull.
I've sailed quite a bit on several schooners with complete or partial inside ballast, stone, iron, and lead. I never liked the idea, and still don't. But that's opinion.