Looking for opinions on twin keel boats vs single

[GrahamHO]

Originally Posted by vancouver25

I don't speak French but this guy (Into the wind | Un bateau , un piolet , un parapente , un tour du monde . . .) has been having quite an adventure on a newer design (Maree Haute) bilge keeler. Across the Atlantic and now around into the Pacific the long (and "wrong") way. Here seen up the Amazon River:

Looks good. I'm guessing it has keel bulbs to give it a longer footprint and lower COG??

[tinkrman69]

Had a Westerly with bilge keels. Didn't lose much on speed But she's not designed to race. Seemed to heel less on a reach than a keel boat of comparable size. Handled well with a good wind off the quarter and pointed close, altho not real fast to windward. She was a comfortable boat was able to run her aground and do bottom work on her a number of times. Even painted her - all but the bottom of the keels - during some extra high tides. If I had it to do over again I go with the bilge keels. As I'm a sailor...the slowest mode of sea travel...comfort and seaworthiness is first on the list. Bilge keels fit in there with a few add perks.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Sirzones.

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Sirzones

Looking at a few sailboats and came across a tylercraft twin keel 29ft.
Just wondering how safe these are compared to a single deep keel

Does this count? I have 20 years experience ocean sailing on my home made 48' steel cutter with twin bulb fin keels.

[weavis]

Nearly all of my UK boats have been bilge keel.

Tides seem to recede from here to France, and there is nothing like the security of sitting upright when it washes out from under you.

The westerly Centaur, now had 3 of them for coastal piddling and going into shallow coves. NOTHING beats the ability to do so.

Slow? er........ yes the Centaur is slow. It will get there though.

Also had a Seawych 19 which was bilge keel

And an Eventide 24 which was Bilge Keel.

Lovely boats.

[Hydra]

Some bilge keelers were designed more for sitting upright than for sailing.

My father had a BiLoup 9m, built by Wrighton in the 1980s, that was wide and roomy but undercanvassed with long shallow keels. She was slow, cumbersome and unpleasant to helm, didn't go well to windward. Playing the tidal streams in the W English Channel was difficult.

Alain

[Snowpetrel]

Just on terminology, I always understood a twin keeler had two ballasted keels and no central keel, and a bilge keeler had three keels, normally with the ballast in the centre one?

Sent from my HTC_0PCV2 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Hydra]

I stand corrected: my father's boat was a twin keeler.

Alain

[CHAZ]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Just on terminology, I always understood a twin keeler had two ballasted keels and no central keel, and a bilge keeler had three keels, normally with the ballast in the centre one?

I guess it is only a difference in English (bilge-) or American English (twin keeler). In other languages is no difference made.

Some reading about the twin- or bilge keeler
Bray Yacht Design and Research Ltd. - The Advantages of Twin Keels
and
Roll Attenuation and Bilge Keels

Fair winds
Martin

[anchorbend]

Several years ago Sailing Today, British magazine did a comparison between 2 Hunter 290s, one a fin keel and the other a twin keel. Yes, Hunter did build boats in England and called them Legends. The conclusion was there was very little variance in speed or pointing ability. Twin keels properly designed can sail without much loss in performance.

[Sirzones]

Thanks for the great info guys,

[weavis]

2500 made and sold and still in use today. The Westerly Centaur. Good Bilge keeler. Good boat and introduce many UKers to Sailing.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by anchorbend

Several years ago Sailing Today, British magazine did a comparison between 2 Hunter 290s, one a fin keel and the other a twin keel. Yes, Hunter did build boats in England and called them Legends.

I though the "legends" were, and still are, built in the US, but were branded differently in the UK because there is also a "Brittish Hunter"?

The conclusion was there was very little variance in speed or pointing ability. Twin keels properly designed can sail without much loss in performance.

RM also tested their twin keel versions against the fin keelers, and the result was that the twin keelers was about 1% slower in most circumstances. That is negligible. These boats are quite fast.

[boater 86]

I met a guy in ft lauderdale fl about 40yrs ago, his name was Ian Mc,nair, On a westerly 26 w/twin keels, He was from Austrailia, On his way around the world, Raggedy Ann, Don Meyer, merritt island. fl.

[Ramblingman]

I was working on my prior boat in the yard last Summer and while driving down the isle saw a woman taking pictures of what I thought was a Westerly of larger size. After parking my car I walked down and found out she was the owner of this twin keeled boat and...

It was a US made boat called a Tylercraft. She was thinking of selling it, I wanted my next bigger boat. I listed my Formosa that day and now own the only ( to my knowledge ) T42. She's 42' at the waterline and 44.5' overall. Foil shaped keels and a massive skeg rudder. There are several stories as to her hull design but the most common was a "copy" of a racing boat at the time.

We hit the water in a few weeks and begin sailing her, she is built like a tank, dry and a very comfy layout, big deep center cockpit and overbuilt everything.

I did months of research on the boat, three surveys and a lot more work. The prior owners loved sailing her, said she was quick and comfortable. I'll chime in more over the next few months.