Safety
There have been several posts about
safety and potential damage when running aground
Quote:
Originally Posted by coopec43
Some people are gung-ho! How would a fin keel stand up to a grounding or hitting an "underwater object"?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coopec43
Nov 10, 2016 — Another problem with fin keels is they are not very well protected from impact. They are, by design, a very long lever arm. If you were to strike an underwater object, be it a sunken log or the sea bed, this force is going to be multiplied and then transmitted to the rest of the yacht via a very small area.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fireman182
I wish I had a fin keel when docking and glad I have a full keel when running aground.
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But
safety is about more than strongest, heaviest, hulls and full keels. If weight and strength were so valuable we all be driving Checker Marathon automobiles.
And the truth is that designers and engineers build fin keels to withstand collisions. I hit a reef going 7.25 knots under
power (a reef I knew about but I made a mistake about its location) and it didn't tear off my keel. In fact I was on another fin keel
race boat many years ago when it hit Thrasher Reef in BC at speed under
spinnaker. That boat's keel was not torn off either. In both cases the damage was minor enough so that we didn't need to immediately
haul out. On my boat I lost about a fist full of lead on the front of my keel. On the other hand a Westsail 43 named Danika hit a reef here in
Mexico, and I doubt if he was going any faster than either of the two examples I'm referring to.
You can see the damage to Danika in the
photo below.
I also hit a log one time, 40' by 1', exactly perpendicular to my course. It hit the bow, the keel, rolled under the keel, fortunately missed the
propeller, and hit the rudder. It chipped the bow and the front edge of the keel. No other visible damage. It did however wake up the crew
member on watch who was inattentive while we motored a full speed in broad daylight.
And there is safety in being able to go to
weather or avoid storms.
SPEED
People don't buy fin keel boats for pure speed, unless they are choosing a boat to
race. It's silly to say "I don't need speed so I don't see any benefit to a fin keel boat" People buy fin keel boats because they sail better and feel better while sailing. People who love sailing for nothing more than the sake of it, buy boats which perform well and that's usually fin keels.
The arguments about "tracking" and how they handle down
wind don't seem correct to me. I've sailed many boats in
offshore conditions, and I'd say there is much benefit in a boat which responds to a powerful, balanced, spade rudder when the crap hits the fan. I've struggled to control an over powered full keel boat in bad
weather and it isn't fun spinning that tiny wheel and watching nothing happen. As for
tracking and sailing for hours without touching the
helm? Pooh! my boat does it too, all the time.
STORAGE
Now
storage is an interesting topic. A couple of people have mentioned this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roland stockham
I also need to carry lots of weight both in boat stuff and personal gear. Traditional designs tend to be good at this and I had the opportunity to get a good one so it works for me. A lightweight fin keeler would not...
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I recently worked on a J44 set-up for cruising. It is a great boat, and this one was super well equipped. But I realized I couldn't do with the J44 what I can do with my Serendipity 43 because of lack of
storage. I couldn't have a workshop, a
Sailrite sailmaker, rolls and rolls of sailcloth, (to say nothing of a dozen sails) and spares for everything. There just wasn't room.
But they were both fin keeled
racing boats!
So storage has more to do with the overall design than it does the type of keel, and I agree, it is important.