Bilge Keel vs. Fin keel

[ShayK]

I never sailed bige keel yacht. How much its behaviour different from fin keel yacht?

[GordMay]

It's 18.28% different.

[atoll]

they dont fall over when the tide goes out if you run aground.............

[Blue Crab]

A fin will outpoint a bilge keeler and is faster as well, other things being equal.

[dscsr23455]

A bilge keel allows a person to roll the boat into a garage and refit after the it sank at its' mooring. PO allowed the rudder tube to corrode. A car trailer can easily move the boat if you have it lifted on and off. I would not have the boat today if it was not a bilge keel.

[ShayK]

OK, thanks!
If it's little speed penalty, it worth the benefits. I consider Leisure 23 yacht for mostly coastal passages (England and W. Europe), but think about more prolongate cruise in Mediteranian too.

[boatman61]

Think the Liesure 23 is a bit high sided for the Biscay... unless you coast hop down... the Hurley 22 is a much better sailing boat all round though more spartan with accomodation... if you already have the Liesure 23 you'll be okay... just don't try the straight across the Bay...
In the Med you'll be fine... lotsa day sailing...
My 0.02 cents worth..

[barnakiel]

The ones I sailed on could not point as well. They tracked very well though and rolled less. I liked them very much.

b.

[atoll]

you might think about going down to the med via the french canals and avoid the biscay entirely,lovely if you are not in a hurry.

[ShayK]

every penny worth
I didn't have yet, intending do it at May. But there is one issue than unclear for me: if I'll buy boat under 7 meters in UK, could I sail she to other european countries (from Regulation's point of view) ?

[ShayK]

Yes, 50+ gates on ~500 miles but it lovely option!

[atoll]

i think 6meters??? is the rule for europe,france anyway, french freinds who crossed the atlantic in a 24 ft boat wouldn't check in in martanique or guadaloupe in case they got in trouble!

[Alasdair]

Bilge keel or Twin Keel? They are different. Bilge keelers have a central main keel with usaually smaller keels coming off each side. Twin Keelers have two keels coming off each side, usually angled out at 15-20 degrees so that the lee keel is verticle at 20 degrees heel and the widward one creating greater stiffness due to downward forces. Some twin keelers have two rudders (google Blue Bird of Thorne), mine only has one skeg hung rudder. Each Keel can be assymetric so as to create greater lift on their respective tacks.
Though they can be slow in light winds due to more wetted surface, if well designed will hold their own in most conditions. My 36' Twin Keeler, Warlock, manages 4 knots SOG in 8-9 knots of wind which is quite OK, she carries alot of sail though. Twin keelers are better mannored at anchor and sailing off the wind as they tend not to get the rythmetic roll common on most monos. My boat points well, has minimal leeway' tacks well, is directionally stable, and can be beached at high tide for maintainance. If you accidently ground under sail you can get off by easing the sheets and motoring off as twin keels draw more water when heeled, less when not. Single keelers tend to dig themselves in.

[Marimba]

I just completed a 16000 nm cruise in a 10.5 m bilge keel cutter - so I thought I'd contribute some thoughts. The boat is a custom design built in 1977 in Sidney, BC Canada and has been around the Pacific at least twice. I sailed her single handed over a three year cruise - my previous experience has been with single keel boats having owned and sailed an 8 m Vega for 20+ years of coastal sailing. The bilge keels are asymetric and a somewhat complex shape, unlike the stubby slabs most often seen. Wetted surface is minimized, ballast is low and forward. They also serve as fuel tanks. The boat is stable on the hard sitting on the keels - this can be useful occasinally in shallow areas or if some minor hull work like zinc maintenace, scraping etc. is required, or if there is an issue with low tides. The draft is a little less than similar full keel sized boats, and significantly less than fin keels - so there is access to places these boats can get into - and if you screw up and the water drops more than you expect, you probably won't end up sleeping on the bulkhead waiting for the tide to come in!

Over the long passages of the cruise I averaged 99.7 nm / day which I gather was typical to good for monohulls of similar size. Samoa to Hawaii was, to my chagrin, a long beat contrary to the pilot chart wind expectation of a reach, generally 50 to 55 deg off the true wind, using the vane - again comparable to single keel boats. I thought the motion of the boat to be somewhat damped compared to other boats I've sailed in, but I've no hard data to support that comment. That boat tracked very well and was exceptionally easy to balance for self steering - how much of that is due to the keel design, I can't say.

In summary - a well designed bilge keel boat can perform as well as a typiclal single keel boat. Each has advantages - I'm happy with mine and simply like how she handles and is easy to single hand. It's a shame there aren't more well designed bilge keelers - I note that there are single keel boats out there that are dogs as well.

[AndrewB]

Originally Posted by atoll

they dont fall over when the tide goes out if you run aground.............

Don't count on it. If you are on the edge of a deep channel or there's some trash around, you can go over, and spectacularly.

Yes, they need less draft and so can sail into shallower waters. Set against that though, a bilge keeler is far harder than a single-keel yacht to get free if it does go aground.

Also repeated groundings can strain the keels. Many of the best known bilge-keel designs were notorious for becoming leaky through their keels.

For this reason, and nothing to do with performance, I prefer single keels.