** Well, I guess after you add the chest protector and flack vest I made the proper balast weight **
George, when I got to about 120 days short, I put the back plate into my chicken plate rig. About tripled the weight; I didn't care.
Couple weeks later somebody left and I got his butt plate, put that in the ship. Nice.
Now I'm 90 days short; happened to be digging around in the back of a Conex, find a bunch of loose steel plates. So I spread them around under my feet, all over the place.
If they didn't wreck my ship while I was in Bangkok with about 60 days left, I'd have had that sumbuck looking like the cab of a 5-ton guntruck and listing so far left they'd have needed a special rating to get it off the ground.
Even with all that, I was still sure I was gonna get it, either in the face or in the crotch. Whew.
Fraidy-scared Bob