Build a Better Battery Box -- Catalina 22 -- Jim's Little Boat get the weight forward

Jim moves the battery forward in his small sailboat to improve tacking. He demonstrates how to copy curved surfaces.
Jim's Little Boat is dedicated to helping beginning sailors and providing a video reference for work on their own boats. There are more than 50 videos in the Jim's Little Boat archives of You Tube. While some of the videos are very specific to Catalina 22 sailboats, most are general and apply to all small mono-hull sailboats.
Weight distribution experiments video: • Get weight forward to ...
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[@Sp3ktral22]

Great project, well executed.

[@RoundABoutStudio]

I started this project yesterday. This is super helpful as always Jim. Thanks!

[@smallsailboatbigwater3959]

I once test sailed a custom boat for a new owner. It was also too heavy in the stern and struggled to tack. The owner was not happy with my recommendation to move the battery bank, not the easy fix he wanted, Great video and really nice work 👍🏼#44

[@jimslittleboat4388]

Thanks for the nod. It worked better than I expected, and I think a second battery would work a tad better.

[@vanceguerena8889]

Nicely done

[@ericspunaugle9255]

Great video. Wondering if you’ve ever done a video on securing the boat and components while moored at a marina. Saw your video where you showed where the motor mount was pried. Yikes. Thanks Jim

[@jimslittleboat4388]

Well, Eric, this is going to sound funny, but other than the motor, I don't lock anything up. We have a lot of live-aboard folks in our marina--and even if someone did break in, I would rather have them steal my stuff than break my boat. The motor is a different deal because the tweekers row in on dinghys and try to steal outboards. The lock is to slow them down and require them to make noise.

[@thisisalwaysatest]

This is very cool, thanks! I'm wanting to build some removable watertight lockers for my 14' sailing dinghy forward of the thwart to hold gear when cruising. Something that will float in the event of a capsize (which I sure hope never happens!). Do you have any ideas or projects for that? Thanks!

[@timothybewley5213]

Jim, I have 1976 Catalina 22 . I need to tighten the boom bar that is mounted by two nuts located at the bow. Problem; you cannot fit sockets between the housing to tighten the boom bar nuts. I really do not want to cut holes in the hull to access .

[@jimslittleboat4388]

Timothy, I don't know what a boom bar is. Just looked it up and didn't get an answer. Could you send me a picture in an email: [e-mail]

[@curtsavage8222]

Hi Jim - is there anywhere I can download a set of your battery box drawings?

[@jimslittleboat4388]

Send me an email: [e-mail] I can send you something.

[@markkurtis8637]

Two, forty pound batteries and... how much does your battery box weigh?

[@jimslittleboat4388]

I don't really know, Mark. I forgot to weigh it--not much maybe 10 pounds, maybe less. Right now I only have one battery because the ones I wanted were $250 a pop and I didn't want to spend that much money that month. I am told the batteries in parallel need to be the same type and the same age. Don't know if it's true, but one battery is plenty since we have the solar charger.

[@shouse5110]

@@jimslittleboat4388 yes better both batts are same, if not one will discharge into the other and when charging they will get different charge rates...