Ballast

[Kev.WParticipant @kev-w]

Michael, I have one suggestion, when I lived in Mablethorpe (early 70's) there was no local scrapyard, but I know you now have car scrapyard on the High St. near the junction of Church Rd.

You could have a word with them to see if you could secure the old wheel balance weights off the cars they take in (for suitable price of course), you can then recast them to whatever shape & size you need

[mike farrellParticipant @mikefarrell21522]

Hi Kip Thanks for the reply. Sadly Bill Tuplins pass on to the leader in the sky and the scrap yard has gone .I suspect his yard will be an estate in the near future.

But you have given me a new supply at Bushes Tyres in Louth good on you.

Thanks Michael

[Kev.WParticipant @kev-w]

Glad my suggestion was helpful, having resided in the infamous resort of 'Mabo', I know that having a hobby is a necessity, unless you want to die of boredom very quickly.

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Posted by Len Morris 1 on 24/10/2014 23:52:53:

Hi Amy,

What do you mean by recycled? Ballast is dead weight and it can be anything from lumps of rock to pig iron. As Ashley said, lead is quite good because in strip form it is clean or if recast it can fit your boat a treat. Hope you're not sailing about with loads of sulphuric acid! How do you get the lead out and what do you do with the goop?

Len

Hello Len

Here's my procedure

First I open the caps and drop a couple of teaspoons of baking soda in each cell (I use a funnel as the stuff foams up like mad) By the time I discard a car battery they are very tired. once the hissing has stopped I tip all the water out (on my gravel drive well away from drains) refill with water and repeat the soda dose. Then I cut the top of the battery case off with a hand saw. I use a chisel to separate the terminal posts and the cell connecters. The plates them selves are not with the effort of recycling. I then melt and cast the lead. The rest goes in the rubbish.

You only get a few pounds of usable lead, but at least the old battery gets a second use!

Amy jane

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Well done Amy! I've a few dead batteries in mi shed that have taken on a whole new perspective!

Len

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Your welcome, Len, But just take care….. (unless of course, you're made of teflon coated cast iron like me!)

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Amy. Not quite the same specification, I,m more Kevlar coated bullet proof Titanium! I shall take great care – to make sure I don't loose any of the sulphuric acid! There's a cracking book in the Angus Books 'Workshop Practice Series' – 'Electroplating' by J. Poyner. The last sections are about anodising aluminium, coulored or otherwise. You need sulphuric acid, but try and buy it. Makes trying to buy a piece of lead pipe look like buying an ice cream!

Now have mi own supply that I never thought about. Excellent!

Len

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

Part of our family business during and just after WW2 was recharging what we then called accumulators to feed the valve heaters of battery radios (many houses were without mains electricity in those days and were lit with coal gas mantles. 6d/week for recharging) When I first left school in 1956 dad gave me the horrible job of smashing up the glass cases and recovering the lead paste. Great combination of glass, sulphuric acid, and lead. Nasty stuff sulphuric acid. It used to rot Dad's overall coats as well as the wooden floor of our Ford van. We ended up tipping half a carboy of it down the drain in the 1970s when we cleared the workshop after we sold the business – not something I'm proud of but we were desperate. Never stripped a car battery but if the plates are constructed of a lead frame filled with paste like those old ones I took apart, I would think they need a very thorough wash to avoid a gradual acid attack on the hull.

I have some lead lying around for balancing aeroplanes but as I hate carrying excess weight it's used sparingly. I doubt if I will have enough for the 'cheat' keel on my sailing barge. We have a self-employed plumber living across from us. I'm hoping to beg some lead scrap from him when the time comes.

Geoff

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Geoff,

Enjoyed your story. It's how life was back then and I hate to think about the stuff I put down drains. I had a battery go over in the back of my Ford Anglia van. Rags, hose pie, soap etc. Three weeks later the floor fell out!

Tried getting scrap lead pipe from the local plumbers and failed miserably. They don't get it very often these days and when they do they are straight down the metal merchants with it (it's not of much use to them and it's money sat there on the floor). I think 'plumber' is now a misnomer. These days it should be 'copperer' or 'plasticer'!

The point of all this is don't wait until "the time comes". Get your order in now with your local man. If you don't then "Go to Start", and read my first post!

Len

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dear Kevin

An alternative to risking life and limb by stripping down old batteries or falling off the church roof is to simply order some lead flashing through Amazon.**LINK**

Nice clean lead in a usable thickness with the added bonus of free delivery ……………….no stumbling around scrap yards and being chased by guard dogs or melting your plastic sewer pipes as you 'dispose' of acid.

When you have cut the lead that you need the residue can be sold to other members of your club (for a handsome profit)

Paul

Edited By Paul T on 04/11/2014 15:48:56

[Mike Waterhouse 1Participant @mikewaterhouse1]

I've found that by the time you've run around to find a scrap metal dealer who will sell you a bit of lead it's better to go to a Builder Merchants and buy some flashing…….Travis Perkins do a code 3 150 mm X 6 Mtr roll for around £25 inc Vat.

This is what I did and I've managed to ballast 4 boats of about 40 inches each and still have a small amount left over.

Hope this helps.

Mike

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