How To Balance The Load In A Small Boat

The smaller the boat, the more important it is to know where you should put that weight.

Boats are painstakingly designed and constructed with weight distribution and a center of gravity that ensures they float and run stable and level – and then we boaters toss in piles of gear and passengers, often throwing that balance out of whack. On any relatively small boat, and especially boats under 20 feet or so in length, how you distribute the load will have a huge impact on how your boat performs, the comfort level of you and your passengers, and possibly on how safe you all are – especially if the seas kick up or there are lots of boat wakes around.

To see the effects of improper loading, we simulated passengers and gear by weighing down a 16-foot skiff in different ways using three 5-gallon buckets of water, which weigh about 40 pounds each when full. The results, which you can see for yourself in our “How to Balance a Small Boat” video on the BoatU.S. YouTube channel (YouTube.com/BoatUS), were rather dramatic. Moving 120 pounds of water weight port and starboard or fore and aft was enough to throw that boat noticeably off-balance. Take the lessons we learned to heart, and the next time you step aboard, don’t just toss that gear in or ignore where everyone sits. Remember these boat-loading basics, and everyone aboard will be safer and happier. A good beginning point overall is reading the maximum capacity plate. Never exceed that weight.

Level The Load

How you distribute weight is critical to keep your boat floating on an even keel. Try to center heavy gear, and as people find their seats, encourage them to spread out instead of clustering in one part of the boat. If you have an odd number of passengers and there’s no way to avoid having more weight sitting to one side or the other, consider sliding heavy coolers or tackleboxes to the opposite side of the boat to counteract the weight. And as you pull away from the dock, if you can feel your boat listing, take the time to rearrange some weight until the list is remedied.

Remember that it may only be slightly uncomfortable to be on a listing boat when it’s at rest, but once the boat is up and running, things will get a whole lot more uncomfortable. Trying to hold on while your entire body is leaning at an angle requires a lot more physical exertion than holding on while sitting or standing upright. Meanwhile, the hull won’t be meeting the waves at the intended angle, and instead of a V chopping the seas, a flatter section of the hull could start slamming the boat into waves. That makes holding on even tougher.

Another problem with running a listing boat is that it won’t handle as designed, and chines or keels may dig into turns either exaggerating or diminishing the effect of your efforts at the wheel. This makes it harder to run the boat, but more importantly, in extreme cases, this can turn dangerous and cause the boat to act in an unexpected manner or even lead to loss of control.

Stop The Squat

Fore-and-aft distribution of weight is critical. If you stack too much weight in the stern of a small boat you might submerge the scuppers and flood the deck. There’s also a good chance the boat will squat down in the water instead of jumping onto plane when you hit the throttle, and may be unable to get “over the hump” and onto plane at all. When this happens, shift weight forward. Remember that shifting smaller amounts of weight farther forward can have just as big an impact as shifting larger amounts of weight a shorter distance forward.

On some boats, moving weight toward or into the bow may be difficult due to the stowage or seating arrangements. In this case, you can often get going if a passenger moves to the bow temporarily until the boat planes out (assuming it’s safe to do so, considering sea state, the presence of solid handholds, and other variables). Once the boat gets onto plane, the passenger can usually move back aft and it will stay up and running. But if you can’t get the boat to plane without moving passengers or weight, consider whether the boat is overloaded.

Buttoning Down The Bow

If it’s necessary for someone to move forward in order for a boat to get on plane, why shouldn’t they stay up in the bow for the cruise? In some cases, this may be fine, but in others it can be uncomfortable or even unsafe; every boat is different and various conditions can change the equation. That said, overloading the bow can be an even worse – and more common – mistake than overloading the stern. Often this is an issue related to where passengers choose to sit.

Many small bowriders or runabouts feature bow seating, and sometimes multiple people step aboard a boat and gravitate to the front to sit together. In fact, at one time or another, most seasoned boaters will have seen a 17- or 18-foot bowrider with three or four people sitting up forward, and noticed how low the bow was sitting in the water. This may not be a huge deal as long as the boat’s at rest in calm water. But if there’s enough weight forward when you start cruising, it can hold the bow down as it hits waves, sometimes so much so that it goes into a wave rather than rising up over it; this can swamp the boat or at the very least soak all your friends. On top of that, bow seats can get very bumpy when a boat’s running through waves of any size. Everyone will be better served if you shepherd some or all your guests to aft seating before going to planning speeds, especially when the seas are choppy.

Stow It Low

Along with distributing that weight properly between port, starboard, fore, and aft, also consider how elevated or how low weighty items are. A low center of gravity contributes to a boat’s stability, and a high center of gravity reduces it, so as a general rule of thumb, you want to keep as much weight as low as possible in the boat. Avoid stacking coolers on top of each other or placing heavy items on top of seats or raised decks. On boats with elevated stowage areas (like T-top boxes or gunwale compartments), use them for light items, only. The net result will be less rocking and rolling.