Draft

[Hugthecruzer]

I have a 1981 Catalina 25 standard rig. I draw 4' and my canal is 3.5'. Would it be cost prohibitive to swap keels to a wing keel? Or should I sell and buy another 25'? I sail mostly on Lake St. Clair which has many shallow spots too.

 

[Mike1956]

My advice would be to sell your curent boat and look for a newer model with a swing keel. That allows you to enter thru the shoals and once in deeper water, have the deeper keel for ability to point into the wind better.

 

[sinnettc]

Catalina 250 Wing Keel draws 3.5 feet. Capri 22 wing draws 2.8 feet. Hunter 25 draws 2 feet. Any of the Catalina swing keels, including the 250 water ballasted on, draw about 5 feet. You could search for something with a bilge keel.

 

[OldCat]

Yeah, but

Catalina 250 Wing Keel draws 3.5 feet. Capri 22 wing draws 2.8 feet. Hunter 25 draws 2 feet. Any of the Catalina swing keels, including the 250 water ballasted on, draw about 5 feet. You could search for something with a bilge keel.

With a swing keel you can raise the keel and motor through shallow spots with the sails down. Really shallow draft fixed keels (2' or so like your Hunter example) don't sail as well and still tend to draw more than a swinger that is up. A swing could solve a canal problem, but maybe not the shallow lake issue since raising and lowering keel and sails would be a major PIA.

A Catalina swing keel (22-25') or a C22 wing (under 3', if I remember) or the Capri wing might all work, depending upon how shallow that lake is, though with a 3.5' canal, I'd want a swing in the up position and a beachable rudder.

The beaching rudder is equally important - a local sailing instructor nearly sank a J22 when he let the class get too close to the stump zone at Cherry Creek in Denver. If you ground the rudder at speed, you can wind up with a hole in the transom. Be *sure* the rudder is not deeper than the keel, or that it can swing up. Or else be removed in shallow water and the boat steered with an outboard.

OC