Ballast is a weight that is used to ‘trim’ the narrow boat.

Need that explaining a bit more? Read on….

If you have recently bought a narrow boat and you fit it out with your belongings this may change the way the boat sits in the water depending on where you put your furniture and household goods. So for example if you have more furniture (weight) on one side of the boat it will make the heavier side sit lower in the water. The same goes if either end of the boat is heavier than the other.

A Bit Like This Poor Chap Here!

 
To overcome this problem of unevenness and to make the boat sit level in the water, you need to use weights to’ trim’ level out the boat. This then gives the boat the stability it needs in the water.


Sometimes when a boat is left unused over the winter when it has been winterized or if some furniture/belongings have been removed the boat can sit lower in the water at one end or side.

Winterizing the boat means filling the diesel tank at one end and emptying the water tank at the other – this immediately makes the boat sit differently in the water. Sometimes when people see this, alarm bells start to ring in people’s minds, as they think that there is something wrong with the boat.

This is not the case it just needs to be trimmed and leveled out making the weight even again within the boat.