Ok, heres a thought ive been mulling around in my head for a little while now....i know on the big race boats they have ballast tanks the co-pilot can fill or dump to get the nose heavy etc.....

Any thoughts on a system for moving the entire gas tank forward or backward on the fly? I mean instead of playing with trim tabs going back and forth to get the boat flying right, why not just move the whole gas tank forward or backward while underway? Lets say the tank was centered in the boat jst right.....and you had oh lets say one foot or forward movement and one foot of rearward movement..... I think it would be alot easier to do one switch as opposed to playing with two (or 3 depending)
Ofcourse the tank would have to be reinforced and such but is this a crazy idea or am i on to something here?

My guess is the weight of the mechanics needed to withstand the abuse of offshore running would be too much, and they would break often. Maybe a bow tank and a stern tank with pumps to adjust the fuel back and forth on comand would do the same without complicated machanics.

Just get a fat girl to ride in the cabin, and yell positioning commands to her. Even if the water is rough her natural padding will protect her from damage. ( they cook good too!)

You can have a boat manufactured/laid-up with several fuel tanks in them and have them equipt with fuel pumps that can pump fuel from one tank to another within a matter of minutes to change weight distribution, center of gravity---things like that.

I am well aware of multi tank systems and ballast tank and such......my point or thoughts on this idea is that you can change it just as fast as trim tabs do......not having to wait a few minutes for pumps to transfer from one tank to another! I mean if you have lets say a pump that does 110gph....thats 18gpm...and if you have 150gl tank it would take you about 8min or so to empty the whole tank....i know you onlytransfer smal amts from tank to tank but whats easier? Shifting the whole tank a few inches forward in a few seconds or getting pounded by the waves as you run the pumps to move a few gallons from one tank to the other?

You wouldnt have the side to side adjustablilty of tabs.

I don't think the gas tank would work overall because as you used fuel it would alter the weight even if it is a fixed tank. How about some lead or other heavy metal on a small rolling track that is concealed. Maybe even two tracks, one on each side of the boat, that slid the weight forward/aft.

Now Wally if you patent this idea remember who posted it !!!

Dave

P.S. Wally Get those Airbags mounted up yet ????

Dave, airbags work great...just need to find a good spot to mount the gauge and control switch!

Dave the weight idea has crossed my mind as well.....but again you are adding weight to an allready heavy boat! The idea is to be light to go fast right? so why not use what the boat allready has onboard to you advantage?


Mr. Demeanor, yes you wouldnt have the side to side butwith the tank being adjustable you do get fore and aft adjustablity......if you run nose heavy right now on a full tank you slide it back a little and you run right......as you use fuel up or run into some heavy seas you move the tank forward instead of useing tabs....i think this way maybe a little more efficient fuel wise because you are not dragging tabs through the water.... ?????maybe???