Talk:HangingBallast

I am sure you do NOT have any greater leverage no matter how much longer the cables are in the picture. Cables can not be used as levers, they bend.

There is a way to use cables to make more efficient use of your ballast (but your picture does not do it). If things were as shown but the cables for the weights were long, say down another 100 feet, and then the weights were pulled together in the center and bound together you could win a bit. Then what happens is all of your weight ends up being lifted by the high side and so doing more to restore the structure to vertical. Vincecate 12:11, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Here is a video that shows the difference I am talking about: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zqSjDemhT7g Can I have permission to edit this Hanging Ballast page? Vincecate 02:32, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

For static stability the length of the cable does not matter. So if you slowly add some weight to one side of your vessel, the amount that it tips will be the same no matter how long your cables are. But for dynamic stability, when waves are pushing the vessel about, having the ballast down further keeps the cables pulling in the same direction, which helps keep the boat more stable. See User:Vincecate/BallHouse.