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Madrugada · 23-07-2016, 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronjgarner1

Hi All,

First time Post. Been subscribed for a while and learning alot. I'm getting close to moving up from a 28 footer to a 38 footer and intending to get out of Sydney Harbour a bit more often, and maybe back into some Bluewater.

I'm interested in Beneteau 38S5s. There are a few available, all in pretty well set up for live aboard. one is Shoal draft(1.56m with little wings) the other two 2m draft.

In General terms if anyone has experience of sailing not necessarily these boats in particular, but any other class which has both options. Performance variation. I assume Windward performance will be where the variation occurs.

Also any general experience and opinions about the 38S5 would be appreciated as well.

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ronjgarner1 · 24-07-2016, 02:51

Consensus seems to be Deep Draft is better unless you intend to explore particularly shallow areas. The Shoal Draft available resides in a Lake with a very shallow bar entrance, which is why that boat has lived it's life from day one in that Lake. The owner selected to manage more access to the ocean.

I'm in Sydney.. all deep water. so on the whole if there is that much difference in performance and stability.. DK it is. Thanks all.

UNCIVILIZED · 24-07-2016, 03:00

You do understand that you needn't lose stability by going to a well designed shoal draft keel, right?
And with a very well designed shoal draft keel, you needn't lose much, if any windward ability either. As, any more, bulbs can be designed with enough of an end plate effect to mitigate the losses from having less foil depth. Particularly if the bulb's design minimizes drag.
One of the members here has designed such bulbs, when working as a Naval Architect.

Island Time O25 · 24-07-2016, 09:07

One would think it would depend on some other factors as well. My 35 year old 36 footer has a 5' fin keel but is also 18,000 well designed lbs. So it both - points well enough for a cruiser and at the same time is not at all tender.

A friend who is a maintenance manager at a large sailing club and I were making a short easy delivery the other day so we just talked about this and that nautical and marine related for a few hours of an easy sail. He mentioned how few days before he was taking some newbie club members out for a sail on the club's brand new shoal keel 38ft Solana. During some wind gusts when the kids would not react quickly enough to his commands the boat would heel with spreaders almost touching the water. He said even he was surprised how tender it was but then he looked up boat's tech data and saw that it was very light for it's size and it's sail area was large for its weight and ballast. What also surprised him was the fact that the designer of this particular model was a well known and respected NA from GB (I forget the name but I think he has a Spanish/Italian? last name).

So the jist of this post is that more modern light weight designs would probably do much better with the deep blades while the older more heavier ones can get away with shallower fin keels provided the weight and ballast are well distributed.