Fin Keels - Skeg Hung Rudders - Full Keels

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by daddle

There's some safety in fin keels and spade rudders....that you can escape bad situations much faster...not sit and get clobbered. Or get down the California coast in three days instead of being exposed for 5 or more.

You are joking here right?

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Doodles

You are joking here right?

Serious. I love passing chundering heavy cruisers down the coast. Me in shorts with little apparent breeze. Them in foulies slogging it out for many more hours rolling and pitching their full keels and bloated cargo down the coast. More fun. But that's just my opinion.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Khagan1227

I've always wondered how many people carry an emergency rudder, and out of that number, how many have actually tried to use it before it became an emergency.

Emergency rudder is our tiller and permanently rigged, indeed we use the autopilot on the tiller. However, you raise a good point especially for those with centre cockpit yachts. Some have the emergency steering in the aft cockpit, so you can't see were the boat is going if you are holding the tiller.

Pete

[daddle]

A emergency tiller is not an emergency rudder. A completely separate rudder is a good idea on any offshore boat of any type. A requirement of probably all ocean crossing races. I've one stored below. Deploys in a few minutes.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

Well, I wouldn't want to put to sea in most of the things men have trusted their lives to in the past. They didn't have the choice! I think I'm more than a little bit safer in my fin keel, spade rudder Niagara 35 than in one of Eric the Red's open longboats! Have you seen the freeboard on those things??

True, but in their day they were the Volvo 70s of sailing and you have to admit they made some pretty interesting voyages. Afterall they discovered America a couple of centuries before Columbus.

To get though the Shetland Isles and avoid the tides and currents they found an island with a narrow strip between the N Sea and N Atlantic. Their solution was to offload the stone ballast, drag the long ship over the island and re-launch, before setting off for the likes of Greenland. How do we know, because over the years the volume of stones built a beach.

Pete

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by daddle

A emergency tiller is not an emergency rudder. A completely separate rudder is a good idea on any offshore boat of any type. A requirement of probably all ocean crossing races. I've one stored below. Deploys in a few minutes.

True, a broken tag in the rudder wouldn't be cured with a spare tiller, that would only solve the broken steering. I guess a wind vane is the sensible solution. Indeed look at what happened to the yacht on a E - W Atlantic run a couple of years ago. Rudder jammed half way so they spent a month drifting but without being able to effect a cure. They ended up 350 miles from Bermuda but a second storm threatened so they chose the offer of a rescue.

Pete

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by daddle

Serious. I love passing chundering heavy cruisers down the coast. Me in shorts with little apparent breeze. Them in foulies slogging it out for many more hours rolling and pitching their full keels and bloated cargo down the coast. More fun. But that's just my opinion.

Same LWL but different keels doesn't equal 3 days vs 5+ ... no way, no how! Sorry.

[zeehag]

5 or more was fun---- full keel was wonderful in the 60 kt winds-- the sail pattern on this ketch was perfect to avoid knockdown or problems--nice n heavy. would not want to do that in my ericson..LOL

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by daddle

There's some safety in fin keels and spade rudders....that you can escape bad situations much faster...not sit and get clobbered. Or get down the California coast in three days instead of being exposed for 5 or more.

Again, the misguided stereotype that by some magic fin keel and spade rudder boats are 80% faster.
Why would a fin keel help you escape a bad situation faster? passage making speed has much much more to do with waterline length and sail plan than keel. Full keel boats that were performance oriented in their day are very comparable in passage speed to fin keel cruisers of equal length...

[zeehag]

also--unless your fin keel is propelled by scotty of star trek fame, you will still spend more than 5 days sailing down the kali coast, doesnt matter what your keel pattern is.

[SaltyMonkey]

omg we're on that whole speed thing again and outracing storms...

as for spare rudders - easy to make one or choose a SS wind vane that is also designed for independent steering.

yes, i am strangely attracted to the Beneteau 34 and 37 lately...but what the *bleep can you use those strange looking fiddles over the settees for?

[hummingway]

I read somewhere about someone (nice attribution eh?) using the door to the head for a rudder when the rudder went. They controlled it with a cat's cradle of line.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

...but what the *bleep can you use those strange looking fiddles over the settees for?

Playing a strange tune?

[SaltyMonkey]

@ Markj ROFL you got me!

oooh...aaaah...as well as the new Oceanis 34 and 37, a newer 40 ft oceanis looks very attractive too.

almost affordable

[ReeseDawg]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

I think seafood chowder is best, lots of bits of fried bacon, clams, halibut,shrimp, & salmon mmmm! Of course with a cream base. Sounds real good on a blustery day anchored up in the cove somewheres.

Salmon. Yum. The kings are running up the river right here as we speak.