Lead Ballast for the Kingston

[Jim Stumpf]

I just came across these pics from earlier this fall. I had the local Goodyear Tire shop save lead wheel wieghts for me and then we melted them down into 25lb bars that are the width of the cabin foot well where the ballast is to sit. The design calls for scrap iron and concrete, but I have opted for lead. I thought the lead may fair better on the trailer than the concrete, how long would it take for the concrete to become dust bouncing down the highway. I bought a cast iron pot for $12 at the local Harbor Freight and Joe already had the roofers torch from an earlier project. We built 3 forms, melted the lead filled a form moved it aside, melted more lead and so on until the 3 were full then we would take a break till they cooled and then we would start over again. It went pretty smooth until we found that the 3 hundred pounds of stock we had only yielded 200 lbs of lead once we filtered out all of the dibris like steel clips. I need a total of 260 lbs.

[Jim Stumpf]

Boil Boil Toil and Trouble Cauldren Black Cauldren Boil a Drum a Drum Macbeth Duth Come. How often do you get to use that 25 year old english lit class, I thought I had wasted my time.

Jim

[Jim Stumpf]

This picture is a bit redundit but who has a pair of coveralls that can stand in the corner by themselves because they are epoxied stiff. Not only that I didn't recognize that old man looking at the camera, at first I thought it was my dad but realised it was me :shock:

Jim

[Andrew_Butchart]

Jim

For my Weekender I have cast some weights that I am planning on installing in the forepeak - if I can figure out how to make sure they stay in place.

I made a form out of scrap lumber and then added weights a handful at a time. My soldering torch then did a fine job of melting them down. I would pick out the clips as I went along. I also suspended an eye-bold with a washer and nut in the form so that I ended up with an eyebolt in the weight if needed later.

One thing I liked about this method is that it was a lot safer than getting the entire batch of lead to melt - only a small amount of melted at any time so I felt that reduced the danger. "Of course" I made sure there was lots of ventillation.

[Jim Stumpf]

Hey Andrew good to hear from you. The Kingston is designed to have a floor on top of the ballast to keep it in place. I think I will either Pl 400 the lead or maybe foam it into place before installing the floor.

Haven't seen you around lately. I hope all is well on the north side of the lake. Our best wishes for the holiday season to your wife and kids, how is that future son in law of mine doing?

Jim

[Andrew_Butchart]

Jim:

Thank you for your kind wishes. We're all doing quite well, including Trueman.

With all the new restrictions at the border though, we may have to change our plans for the wedding. But, then again they're only 12 so things may improve again.

I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.