Catamaran keel feet / shoes

[Shaneesprit]

Hi

does anyone have any experience of adding metal feet /shoes to fixed keeled Catamaran?
my plan is to put 2 pieces of 100mm stainless around the bottom sides of the keel, then placing a sheet under the keel and welding the bits together. then cut some holes in the 100mm high pieces and fiberglass to the keel.
any comments?

[belizesailor]

Why?

😕

[Seaslug Caravan]

Should survive the nuclear war between the two guys with the crazy haircuts.

You could just cap the bottom with some worm resistant timber, or some boat trailer skid strips, or conveyer belt or whatever at a fraction of the effort and cost , but fit for purpose.

Could even overlap the skeg edges so they act as an endplate.

Sikaflex or epoxy and a little forethought with a system of bonding holes will glue them on.

[admiralslater]

In my mind the advantage of a shoe is its sacrificial nature . I would make it of hardwood epoxy allround and glue it to the bottom of the keel somehow . Do it without fasteners to maintain integrity of the mane structure.

[belizesailor]

No reason you couldnt, but unless you plan to run it up on the beach at speed quite often, I dont think you will find it necessary.

Have never seen them rigged on a production cat, not seen keels that looked like they needed them either. Worst Ive ever done was to scrub off a little bottom paint.

By contrast, skiffs/dinghys/beach cats that are run up on the beach at speed do benefit from such, but if you are going to put a cruising cat on the beach you do so gently.

[Shaneesprit]

[QUOTE=belizesailor;2499733]No reason you couldnt, but unless you plan to run it up on the beach at speed quite often, I dont think you will find it necessary.

yes I have seen them before, it's a need really with the mooring it's on, there are a lot of stones and it's tidal

[fxykty]

Our boat doesn’t have fixed keels so we are very careful on any beach groundings. We do however have skegs that protect our propellers and rudders and those have metal shoes that are mechanically attached to the fibreglass skegs. They are the same foil profile as the rest of the skeg, but protrude about 0.5cm beyond the fibreglass and are about 1cm thick. When grounding they provide a prop for the aft section of hull.

I see a bunch of boats locally that are moored in a drying bay. Mud though. But I still can’t imagine wanting my boat to bounce on a bottom 4 times per day, especially if the bay has considerable fetch from a nasty storm wind direction like the local one does.

Good luck with it. Do remember that not all fixed keel boats are designed to rest on their keels. And if they can, are they stable fore and aft - the boat won’t tip onto its nose or stern?

Good luck.

[danielamartindm]

[QUOTE=Shaneesprit;2500149]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

No reason you couldnt, but unless you plan to run it up on the beach at speed quite often, I dont think you will find it necessary.

yes I have seen them before, it's a need really with the mooring it's on, there are a lot of stones and it's tidal

Mightn't it be easier to change the area where you moor? Your plan will increase the parasitic drag of your hulls through the water and mandate extra maintenance, no?

[Sos]

Both of my HT's had sacrificial timber bonded under the keels but don't see why stainless steel wouldn't work in an area with more stones.
I would rather have the stainless folded and then bond on with Sika.

[Seaslug Caravan]

Model them on this maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-9BrTVGW7g

[belizesailor]

[QUOTE=Shaneesprit;2500149]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

No reason you couldnt, but unless you plan to run it up on the beach at speed quite often, I dont think you will find it necessary.

yes I have seen them before, it's a need really with the mooring it's on, there are a lot of stones and it's tidal

Ah, that makes more sense.

[Zach]

What are your keels made of?

[Shaneesprit]

Keels are all Fibre Glass
And to reply to some comments
catamarans don't fall over
Surely Stainless is less maintenance, although a lot of work to do in the first place.
Moving the mooring not an option as I don't pay any fees, so moving to else where would mean I should of brought a monohull.
Nice Video that's a professional idea of what I want to do while mind is in the mud and stone and while the water is out,
Unless that person wants a straight swop ��

[Dwayne Lister]

Prout often fitted hardwood keel shoes to most of their models. Given that they were designed and built to dry out, it makes sense.
I have a Beneteau Blue 2, and it has stainless steel keel bands to protect the keels, but will be fitting sacrificial hardwood shoes as I intend to have the ability to dry out.

Regards

Dwayne

[Shaneesprit]

The hardest bit is deciding how to attach something to the keels in the first place
Hardwood would be easy if I could just bond it on and be sure it would stay there,
Thinking of using liquid rubber between the two?