Like I said, I like the boat.OB, spin, bolt on hrdwr - all details easily rectified. Boat to be campaigned single-handed.
Anyway found online convo where guy who used to race j24 bought one said it went better than expected especially upwind also that it liked weight forward d/w, another in same convo opined Hunter did so well with wing keel that's why so few were made with fin.
Mars did do Hunters keels so retrofit possible should be faster 'cause only 9" more draft should be lighter keel?
Considering this boat out of sheer desperation as so few decent boats to market and not possible to tap larger fleet south of border.
covid....meh....
It does in 8 knots plus. Lighter we suck. In 14+ we kill it. Its the nature of PHRF. One number for all conditions. We are heavier and wide, so slow in the light. Still we work it hard to do as well as can be. But in a breeze, watch out. Stable as crap and we plane. The boat was designed to sail in the Atlantic in Brittany. The trees grow up on a diagonal there. Not a light air venue!Does your 260 sail to its rating? There's a 25s out here. Pretty pricey.
I'm glad you like the boat Jackdaw. I have one in my driveway I bought new in 1987, never got around to selling it. I moved it there in 2002, I keep a good cover on it and climb aboard every couple months to check on it.Like I said, I like the boat.
Most Hunter's are shoal because Hunters were designed and built in a shoal-water sailing area. As a general rule, you see boats looking like they were designed to be sailed in the area where they were born.
The boat will sail to its handicap, or that number gets adjusted over time. So I would not worry about the keel, just sail fast and the rating takes care of itself. The only possible issue is in tight upwind racing, where shoal keel boats cannot hold their lane upwind. That can cost you huge time as you either get spat our, or have to tack out.
Educate me a bit here please, why are wing keels not favourable for racing?Which keel do you have? I wouldn't consider a wing keel optimum for racing, but you can still have a good time (and probably learn a lot). Wikipedia says average PHRF rating is 189, not bad for a 26 footer.
Well, mostly because wing keels are specifically intended to reduce draft, which hurts upwind performance. Also, the wings add some wetted area, IOW friction or drag. Plus, when the boat is pitching in waves, the wings are not going straight through the water but also going up and down, adding a little more drag. Ideally you want a deep fin keel, preferably with a bulb to concentrate the weight low down (although when taken to extremes this may lead to structural complications).Educate me a bit here please, why are wing keels not favourable for racing?