Ballast tanks. Pro and con

[20ft cruiser]

Ok so my little sunfast weighs less than a ton and she has a keel stone on the hull and a daggerboard. No.fin keel. In the med gusts can be 7 or even 10knts more than wind speed in some places and this effects the boat a lot. In not so crazy weather she has even got her mast wet so this is why I'm considering ballast tanks.

If I have more ballast will this put more strain on the rigging?
Will it slow the boat down?
And is it wise to fill a boat with water?
How much ballast would be wise for such a small boat I don't have so much space?

Any help or opinions welcome. Thanks

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[Snowpetrel]

Yes, it will put more strain on the rigging, or at least has the potential to.
Depends on how its used as to if it will slow the boat down, normally if its used only when the boat going to windward or on a taght reach in strong winds it will make her go faster. But down wind and in the light it will slow her down.
Too much water ballast wont be safe. Or easy to add.

Are you thinking of separate port and staboard tanks that can be individually filled or a big macgregger26 style keel tank? If you went with port/stb tanks I wouldnt go over the weight of a normal racing crew on the rail, say 3 or 4 persons. In reality on such a samll boat you are probably better just to focus on improving your sail trim techniques to quickly depower the boat in a gust.

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