what the best floodable ballast system for a barge 26 wide 6 inch tall and like 56 inches long

Best? Your choice! But the choices are:
1. Build it permanenly heavy. Ouch, my back!
2. Load it with bricks after it's in the water. Tedious.
3. Free flood ballast. Works, but still heavy when you try to pick it up.
4. Pumped system. How many ways to skin a cat? Here's one way to pump ballast:
http://www.greatlakesmodeling.com/ti..._tank_pump.htm

Pat M

All that is needed basically is a vented chamber with baffles to stop the water slopping about, and a hole to let the water in. Getting the water out is the sticky problem. You could lift slow (hard work, sore back) and let it drain naturally, or seal the inlet and rig a pump.

There is one barge in the Seattle club that has a double hull.
The deep bottom has several large rectangular holes across the bottom and some side vents to allow water in.
The inner bottom is at the water line, and essentially keeps the barge from sinking any deeper.

i have a new size im going with 40in long 20 in wide and 9 inches tall i was thinking a submarine type system i have a bunch of pvc laying around the house 5 inches around i think i was going to build tanks like the gato class fleet boat with open intakes on the bottom and vent valves on top of the tanks so when you open the valves water comes in the tank and when shut water wont come in and when done have a battery operated compresser hooked to the tank so you can blow the water out

Along the lines of a battery operated compressor, how about a portable air tank that you fill at the gas station. When you are finished with the barge, connect the air tank and blow the water out.

Years ago I had thought of building a floodable dry dock. I planned on using the free flood to sink it but to raise it I was going to use a small 12 volt battery operated bilge pump.