C22 Extra Ballast Under the V-berth. Why?

[ergrabski]

In cleaning out a 1988 Catalina 22 I recently purchased, I found extra ballast under the V-berth. In the photos, the ballast is in long water bags that are folded up in the forward half of the storage compartment under the V-berth. Not visible in the photos, pieces of a broken cinder block were also in the farthest forward compartment just forward of the water bags. I’ld appreciate if someone would explain the reason for the ballast and if I should leave it or can remove it. Thanks

[Calif.Ted]

Best guess is a previous owner hung an overheavy outboard on it and tried to level the boat this way. I'd remove them and see if the boat floats on her lines. I've seen weight added at the factory to balance a boat port to starboard, usually lead bullets cast in a resin brick with Frank Butlers business card.

[tcutler]

The Catalina 22 tends to settle at the stern creating drag so it can help to shift weight forward. Usually you just move crew forward, which doesn’t increase the overall weight of the boat, but I guess putting ballast forward could help when you don’t have enough crew.