Hull Corrector Weights

[Chairman]

I can ship or unship "added weight" from within the bottom of a keel stepped mast. But I can't put the weight into the boat as a "corrector weight" when I change rigs. Weights added to the hull must be there for the whole regatta.

Hi John

Yup, IMHUO, that's it.

On my other topic, I think we agree that my battery pack adheres to both the letter and intent of the rule in question.

Don't know about that. A battery pack is an item of control equipment AFAICS, and there are (relatively straightforward) restrictions on changing it during an event. A battery pack combined with a lump of lead is something else for me, and I'm scratching my head. It seems clear that the added lead is ballast of some sort. I'd think it was moveable ballast, and E4.7 makes strong restrictions on shipping and unshipping moveable ballast during an event -- you can't.

Your comment about the weight in the balloon/battery pack not being "control equiptment" leads to more questions that I don't think we need to or want to address.

Don't see why not. If it is an interesting question, let's explore it. No need to rule anything "out of court"...

Is there a definition of "control equiptment"?
Is there a definition of what constitutes a "battery pack"?
Is there a rule that specifies the makeup of a pack?
Or that an owner cannot use a custom pack?
Or that an owner cannot customize a pack to achieve a specific weight?

I don't know of any rules which explicitly address these matters.

At what point does the weight become an integrated part of the pack?

Good question. We know that a battery pack is pretty heavy and, let's imagine, contains a lot of lead. A pack also has additional materials which make it a "pack" -- binding, solder, straps, wire, connector, and so on. But a lump of inert lead added to a "pack" doesn't become part of the pack, surely, until it has some "battery pack" type function. Maybe, if instead of heat-shrink plastic wrapping keeping the cells together, you had some lead sheeting doing the job. Hmmm...

[johnw]

Thanks again for a thoughtful response.

Since the lead is in the same watertight protective cover as the battery, its actually taped to the end of the pack if I remember correctly, and since there is no definition of "battery pack", and lead is performing the function of making the replacement pack weigh the same as the original battery pack, and since the boat will weigh the same and float the same with both packs.

Could you not argue logically that the lead is already "incorporated" into the pack?

I tend to favor the "elegant" (beautifully simple) solution when approaching these rules questions.

-John W.

[Chairman]

...[the] lead is performing the function of making the replacement pack weigh the same as the original battery pack

Hi John

OK, but for me, what you've just described is a "ballast" kind of function. Entirely legitimate, as far as I can see. It just means you can't move, remove, or replace such a "pack" during the event...!

(The ERS has a couple of definitions which might be helpful. I think the added lump of lead meets both.)

C.2.5 Ballast
Weight installed to influence the stability, flotation or total weight of the boat. It can be of any material and positioned anywhere in the boat.
C.2.6 Corrector Weight
Weight installed in accordance with the class rules to correct deficiency in weight and/or its distribution.

It seems clear to me that the "pack" you are describing is in fact a "real" battery pack plus a lump of attached lead. If you want to be able to ship, move, or replace your "pack" with its lump of attached lead, the whole "pack" has to be an item of control equipment. Sure, it is a grey area, but for me a lump of attached lead is not performing any "control equipment" kind of function, so the "pack" as a whole can't count as "control equipment", and can't be moved, shipped, or replaced as though it was.

[Secretary]

...but for me a lump of attached lead is not performing any "control equipment" kind of function, so the "pack" as a whole can't count as "control equipment", and can't be moved, shipped, or replaced as though it was.

Lester,

Observing your conversation it seems perfectly obvious to me that the lump of lead inside John's pack is there to act as a heat sink - to draw excess heat away from the cells when the winch is working them hard... Therefore, it seems IMHO to be performing a perfectly legitimate "control equipment" function...



Thinking outside the box...

Marko

[Chairman]

... the lump of lead inside John's pack is there to act as a heat sink

Hi Marko

Excellent! So we have at least two "control equipment" functions that some lead could do. We could have a nice thick sheet of lead wrapped around the cells instead of the plastic shrink-wrap to hold 'em all together tightly. Or we could have a nice thick sheet of lead ditto to sink their heat. No problem!

Either (or both!) function(s) of the lead would need to be credible. So the cells wrapped up in a lead sheet should be tightly wrapped with evidence that it was the lead sheet which was doing the "primary" wrapping function. In the second case, we should expect to know that heat transfer paste was used to bond the lead to the cells, and we would expect evidence of exterior surface treatment of the lead to enhance heat transfer to its surrounding medium.

But I don't know that any of this applies, for example, to a lump of lead sharing a balloon with a "real" battery pack, or to a lump of lead velcroed to a battery pack.