A very ingenious and yet cheap way of obtaining this result is to have built into the wings of the yacht, under the floorings, and in every conceivable place that is out of the way, empty tin or iron six-pound powder-canisters, that seal hermetically, sufficient in number to overcome, by the air they contain and the natural buoyancy of the wood composing the yacht, the weight of the ballast, or the tendency of the same to sink the yacht when filled with water. It will not take a great number of these canisters in quite a large yacht of medium model; for, although the yacht will sink without them, it does not take very much of this confined air to turn the scale, and make it float.
Some yachts are ballasted with lead; and this, if it were not for its cost, is a prime ballast, taking up less space than any other. And some care not for the first cost; for, as is truly said, it is a marketable article, which does not vary much in price: and, even if it should cost quite a sum to ballast one's yacht with lead, it is so much cash on hand, and can always be taken out and sold at a moment's notice. Besides the different kinds of ballast that have been enumerated, there is also the living ballast, that is to say, human beings, whom one can place in different parts of the yacht to trim her in different situations. But this kind of ballast is mostly used in racing, and even then is sometimes apt to "get out of order", and not "work well"; and the writer would advise one to stick to iron, lead, gravel, or sand as superior.
Perhaps for bay and harbor sailing and short cruises from port to port, there is nothing better than the canvas bags of sand, which can be emptied, if necessary, when one gets aground, or in any other case of emergency, and filled again at the very next shore upon which one lands in the little tender.
As a rule, sailing-boats and small yachts are "trimmed by the stern;" that is, the bow is slightly elevated from the water, the boat being pressed, by the position of its ballast, deeper into the water at the stern than at the bow. But every yacht is a law to itself; and no rule will do for all. The position of the ballast has also much to do with the steering qualities, as well as affecting speed: if it be placed too far forward, the yacht will "yaw," and at times, before the wind, be almost unmanageable. In "going about," also, if the ballast be too far forward, the boat will often "miss stays;" that is, fail to perform the evolution of getting upon the other tack.