How much weight can I put on the front deck of a 420 aft cabin?

k9medic

Active Member
Mar 27, 2013
597
Florida
Boat Info
1998 420 Aft Cabin
Engines
twin 3116 CATs
I need to move some stuff by water and my best bet right now would be to use my own boat rather than try to put it on a barge.

One of the items that I need to move is approximately 5 foot long and 3 foot wide but weighs just shy of 1200 pounds.

Do you think I could safely put this on my front deck? it would be like putting a heavy dinghy up there I would think.
 
If one of us says "sure go ahead" and it cracks your deck, won't we feel silly?

That said, any heavy weight should be evenly distributed. If due to the curvature of your deck, all that weight were only supported by 3 or 4 contact points, that would be bad. That's about as specific as I feel comfortable spewing.
 
That’s a lot of weight in a small relative area, but I’d be most worried with how you safely load and unload something that heavy in a safe manner, as well as how you’d secure it? A simple wake from a ski boat could send it into your windshield, bow rails, overboard,etc.
 
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What are you trying to move?
 
The best source of info on loading is Sea Ray Customer Service. This isn't a new subject for them since they get asked about davit support, dinghies of all sizes parked on the bow deck, etc. so I'm sure they will have have a better answer.
 
Trying to move a generator to the Bahamas along with some other supplies.
 
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Not sure I would want to deal with that load in the Gulf Stream if the weather changed. Thinking I would airfreight it or ship it commercially unless it was cost prohibitive. We ship cars to offshore islands via ferries on Lake Michigan for not a lot of money. Your load would be easier.
 
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Your question was....5 foot long and 3 foot wide but weighs just shy of 1200 pounds, "Do you think I could safely put this on my front deck?".....answer is not no, but HELL NO !

start with the easy NO....brother sbw1 just mentioned above, that the fall is here, and as soon as northern fronts start moving south and colliding with the northern flowing stream, waves will grow...they have gone from 1's to 10's in a short period of time. So planning a transporting crossing now that the dog days of calmness and daylight are receding, could be real risky with a load.

better reason for NO.....Like FW suggested, you may inquire with the customer service guys at SR, just to have them tell you what the lay-up of the forward deck is on the 420AC. I going to tell you that deck is assembled in a mold with more than a few layers of laminate (fiberglass), then embedded is a 3/4 inch core material, and then encapsulated with more layers of laminate....* I talk in terms just to help set you in the right direction, if you really need to know the lamination schedule, please ask one of my buds at SR for detailed info. But that effort is moot here. The strength you would be counting on comes from bulkhead crossings underneath. The rope locker up front is a bulkhead, the v-birth is a bulkhead and so on, but none of those vertical 3/4 inch marine ply panels is designed to hold that weight. And even worse, due to the curvature of the deck, your load would be pinpointed should any bouncing occur. I'll get off the soap box now, but will remain with my opening remark...HELL NO !

You don't say where from here, or where to in the Bahamas you need the genset to go. This site has members who boat in the Ft. Pierce area, West Palm, or the St. Lucie/Stuart area, all the way down to the big city. Dudes who hang around docks locally, know things. It can be hauled much easier, and for sure much safer, commercially, with peace of mind. You trying to carry a ton of bricks in a hundred pound bag would only end up on youtube, or worse.

R
 
thats roughly like 6 adults sitting infront .i,m sure a 420 will handle this but i,m not sure if i would risk damaging the deck by loading and tie down it .
of course you have 1200 pound far above waterline which worsens the center of gravity - so the stability .

i would pay the shipping of the genny , much cheaper than damaging your boat. not even sure if insurance would pay when something happens and they find out you used the boat in a manner it was never designed for - a 420 is not a cargo barge .
 
Thanks All.

I kinda figured as much but would be banging my head if I didn’t ask the question.

shipping by barge is all what I would prefer to do but getting shipments over to the Abacos is not that easy right now. It would actually be cheaper for me.

I’m trying to get the generator on to a barge that is going out tomorrow but I have about a 40% chance.
 
I'm with Rusty that is a lot of weight without supporting bulkheads below. I am curious why you didn't consider the swim platform area. I thought that area could easily support a jet ski which is similar in size and weight.
 
Rusty, I was able to hook up with a captain friend of mine who happens to be running a barge over - damn I got lucky!

as for the swim platform, that thing gets wet without 1200lbs on it!
 
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Even if the boat would support the load, running the Gulf Stream with a boat that is top heavy would be a terrible idea.
 
Rusty, I was able to hook up with a captain friend of mine who happens to be running a barge over - damn I got lucky!

as for the swim platform, that thing gets wet without 1200lbs on it!

Good luck with the trip. What island are you going to? My brother in law has property on Man-o-war and has been working with some people to help coordinate rebuilding including delivery of supplies.
 
GTC.

It's a shame but all of the "family islands" have pretty much been neglected by the Bahamian government. On GTC, the PM came by about 3 weeks ago and spend 20 minutes there.

A friend of mine said it best - if it wasn't for the "rich Americans" helping, there would be no Abacos now.
 
I can’t speak for other areas but folks on GTC are working a couple of different avenues.

a lot of the items go to the dump and are burned. This is and has been common on the island. There has been talk about getting a barge to ship out items that did not burn.

Unfortunately, given the mess, there is little to no ability to recycle. Everything goes to the dump and we start over.
 
I can’t speak for other areas but folks on GTC are working a couple of different avenues.

a lot of the items go to the dump and are burned. This is and has been common on the island. There has been talk about getting a barge to ship out items that did not burn.

Unfortunately, given the mess, there is little to no ability to recycle. Everything goes to the dump and we start over.


That is the inconvenient truth.....there is no other way really.....dumping it in the ocean doesn't work. 750,000 tons of debris isn't something you can load on a barge and ship to a country that will take it. Katrina left 40 million tons of debris in New Orleans. For that type of debris you have to forget about recycling, burying it and whatever snowflake environment rules are in place to just get rid of it.
 

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