FSH 195 listing port side

[RockShawn]

The picture attached is my 2022 FSH 195 sport. I know that they typically list to the left and filling the live well helps level the boat out. However, this picture is with the live well full. The previous owner installed a Garmin force pro trolling motor Which Garmin says weighs 70 pounds, I added a live foot sonar pole for my live scope, which weighs 7 pounds.


The question becomes is there anyway and or should I add weight to the starboard side, like a sandbag, to help level the boat? And if that is advisable and OK, should that sandbag be put in a compartment at the stern or at the bow. I really do not want to add bow weight as it takes a little effort to load the boat back on the trailer. But I feel like it needs something to offset the weight of the trolling motor.

 

[Ribs77]

I keep two 50 lb. bags of "lead" (actually steel shot) in the boat at all times for surfing and move them around to dial the wake. I keep them in the stern compartments generally.

Edit: Similar to these

Lead Wake Ballast Bags

www.leadwake.com

 

[RockShawn]

Yes, I’ve got some premade sandbags and Steel shot bags that range anywhere from 10 pounds to 25 pounds each. I was thinking about trying to get them in the compartment with the 5 gallon bucket, and I may just have to play around with how much weight.

The first thing I do when I launch the boat is filled the live well but it doesn’t quite do the trick. I just wasn’t sure if offset that weight at the Stern starboard side was going to put undo stress on the boat, and I really needed to put the weight in the bow on the starboard side. Not sure if that makes sense.

 

[Sherwood]

On my 210 I turned my 2 60 plus pounds deep cycles batteries aft to stern vs the typical way and have them as far starboard as possible in the console. That give me little more than a whole battery starboard of center. Also changed out my house battery to a lithium. Still a little heavy port.

 

[RockShawn]

My battery bay doesn’t have a whole lot of room to it. They are turned Port to starboard, but I will look and see if I can reposition them. I switched the lead acid batteries to two AGM batteries for start and house. The lead acid batteries were leaking everywhere so I needed batteries anyway and found a good deal on AGM’s. I did put 12V G24 lithium in the same battery bay but that sucker is super light. It’s what I run all of the chart plotters and live scope off of.

The crazy thing about these AGM batteries is when fully charged they sit at 12.6V but the boat goes into automatic parallel when I start it. I’m not necessarily sure if that’s a bad thing. I need to do a load test on them And make sure they are actually good. I got them from a battery guy that I buy a lot of stuff from and they were only $210 for the pair. They are not a major brand so it’s a little strange. They charge to 13.8v when the motor is running then when I start, I noticed my start battery drops to 10.7 V. That’s probably another issue for a different thread.

 

[Ribs77]

Yes, I’ve got some premade sandbags and Steel shot bags that range anywhere from 10 pounds to 25 pounds each. I was thinking about trying to get them in the compartment with the 5 gallon bucket, and I may just have to play around with how much weight.

The first thing I do when I launch the boat is filled the live well but it doesn’t quite do the trick. I just wasn’t sure if offset that weight at the Stern starboard side was going to put undo stress on the boat, and I really needed to put the weight in the bow on the starboard side. Not sure if that makes sense.

I don't think you need to worry about stress on the boat. Do you mean on the motor? My understanding is that added weight doesn't stress the motor. It can cause cavitation but that mainly impacts your impeller, not the motor.

It won't stress the boat hull or anything else. I usually put 1,000 pounds of ballast total in the boat before I start surfing.