Tim,
My bow down problem was not nearly as severe as yours (probably in part because my N26 was retrofitted with a carbon fiber mast about 20-25 years ago).
As I recall, you have a fairly early model N26C, so yours wouldn’t have gutters molded-in at the forward end of the cockpit seats the way later models did. (I don’t know when that came in. My first N26, #143, didn’t have them. My current one, #233, does. I think that those having been added to the design indicates the factory knew that bow-down was a common problem.)
N26 Classics have their water tanks pretty far forward:
The tanks are 30 gallons each, so they may be a big (if not the biggest) contributor to your bow-down problem. Filled, those tanks put 480 lbs of water really far forward. I don’t know the weight of the aluminum mast, but I’d think it’s over 100 lbs.
Thus, tanks and mast might just barely cancel out vs. the 560 lbs battery weight aft, but that might still not be enough to overcome the base bow-down imbalance of the hull itself.
Aside from Gary’s suggestions, the only things I can think of are to suggest are drastic things like relocating the water tanks aft. There’s potentially room under the quarter berths or in the lazarette, and it might be nice to have under the settees freed for other storage, but it would require a lot of hose changes and require buying different tanks.
Sorry if this isn’t much help.
– Bob