Dude, Where's My Keel ?

[RainDog]

OPs question is "is it possible the keel gets sheared off while running aground". Not "do keels fall off in most groundings".

Of course it is possible. Keels regularly are compromised on boats when hitting and object or just while sailing. Hitting a reef could certainly do at least as much damage.

is it likely? no. Could it happen to a conservatively attached and properly maintained keel? Not really likely. Is it possible? Of course it is.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by vintageray

The guy with the O'day 322 a few slips down from me said his fell off once.

I know someone who had the keel of his boat pounded through the bottom of his boat, holing it rather stupendously, after a wind shift and a storm put him on the lee side of a shallow beach. Ooops.

Love the title of this thread!

Dude -- where's your keel? Er ... in the cabin ...

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Yes...
Fin keel an 80% certainty....

In a conventional fin keeled cruising boat, it is very unusual to loose a keel due to a collision. ( Boatman have a look at the Bavaria keel test video, they ran a standard boat into rock repeatidly at full speed, little damage).
This is because the keel attachment area is generally big enough to handle the stress.

The same is not true for racing yachts, wherefrom most stories have come from.

its a horses for courses story

Dave

[Dsanduril]

Er ... in the cabin ...

I prefer to keep mine under the cabin Every time I've found the keel in the cabin its been a bad thing.

[ADMPRTR]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

In a conventional fin keeled cruising boat, it is very unusual to loose a keel due to a collision. ( Boatman have a look at the Bavaria keel test video, they ran a standard boat into rock repeatidly at full speed, little damage).

Isn't Bavaria the manufacturer that had an incident with a keel falling off, causing someones death in the Baltic Sea? I guess the video was to prove they fixed the problem if my memory is correct. BTW, is there a link for that video?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by ADMPRTR

Isn't Bavaria the manufacturer that had an incident with a keel falling off, causing someones death in the Baltic Sea? I guess the video was to prove they fixed the problem if my memory is correct. BTW, is there a link for that video?

firstly they were racing versions, ( matches) secondly the keels had been moidified locally and the work poorely done. Bavaria were exonerated .

Sorry my mistake the video was of a Dehler , same thing though

Crash Test - Dehler 31 yacht - YouTube

[h20man]

After the 2010 transpac, Warriors Wish ( a Jutson 30 with a 2,500-lb keel ) was returning, and 800 miles from shore.... (no grounding that I am aware of)... the keel just fell off...

They heard the bolts snapping... and ... then no keel...

They did manage to motor/sail back to San Francisco...

so, if this happened while sailing, with no report of hitting something... then why not on a grounding?

[sarafina]

Coyote took damage to the bulb while running aground and then lost the bulb out in the Atlantic.

Classic racing rig that never made it to the Vendee... Hull was fine but the skipper was dead....

[pillum]

Didn't Simon Le Bon's Maxi 'Drum' lose her keel in the 1985 Fastnet? In open waters off Falmouth if I recall correctly.

Seems to me it's mainly a racer problem rather than a generic fin keeler problem. (I hope ;>)

[daddle]

I hit fin keel racers really hard. At speed. Nothing but paint and fairing has fallen off yet.

[ozskipper]

anything is possible. But this is a rarity. great plot idea for a castaway style movie though.

If a bolt on keel did come off my biggest worry would be instant capsize rather than sinking.

[pillum]

From the SailNet forum:

I read this in YM a few months ago too.

"This is probably the most incredible story I have ever heard about sailing boats.

It turned out that a charter crew hit a rock and continue sailing without noticing they had lost the keel. You find it hard to believe?

Try this:

After that, the boat was chartered by another crew that went sailing happily in a boat without keel (and ballast). They didn't noticed anything and delivered safely the boat. Only a thirdd crew, after a broach suspected that there was something wrong. The 37ft Jeanneau boat made around 150nm sailing without its keel and ballast without anybody (two crews) noticing that there was something wrong with the boat.

Can you believe this?

The story was on the December 2010 edition of Yachting Monthly.

Regards

Paulo"

[CharlieCobra]

I can see losing a bulb keel on a hard strike but not a typical fin keel.

[ssanzone]

errrrr, how is it that a boat without a keel doesn't capsize?

with 2 of my vessel's 13 tonnes come from lead in the ballast (plus the concrete) i would expect to be in the water without the keel.

if someone can explain this to me, i promise not to use the information recklessly.

-steve

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by ssanzone

errrrr, how is it that a boat without a keel doesn't capsize?

with 2 of my vessel's 13 tonnes come from lead in the ballast (plus the concrete) i would expect to be in the water without the keel.

if someone can explain this to me, i promise not to use the information recklessly.

-steve

Modern hull shapes have a lot of form stability.

John