Tim's comments about IOR in several posts got me to rethinking something I mentioned earlier about trying to keep your boat upright to keep the waterline maxed. I remembered I had that backwards--and the IOR yachts were designed to increase their waterline length as they heeled, to the benefit of hull speed. I'd suspect that our C-27's share another characteristic, as well--as you heel 'em, they tend to increase how much of their aft section is immersed, thereby providing aft buoyancy and driving the bow a little deeper into the water. Dave, after reading your message on how you distribute crew weight, you might want to try sending some of them more leeward to see if you get a speed increase before you try adding half a cubic foot of lead.
I guess rather than spending good money on lead pigs, I'd be inclined to put it into something more useful, like anchor chain or extra batteries, all sitting in that same spot at the aft part under the V-berth, right afore the keel... But you should consider that 50 lbs of chain in the anchor locker or a heavy Bruce out on the stem would provide about the same downward leverage than 400 lbs of lead just ahead of the keel. Scratching my head, Dave Shaddock
