1985 25.5 Keel question

[divermon]

Please for give me if my questions are very silly, i have only owned small 420's, lasers, and Escows. i am new to larger keel boats.

I have been in the market for a larger sailboat for about a year and came across this hunter 25.5. The boat was spotless inside and out with brand new sails and a spinnaker, the price was way to good to pass up so i bought it. Here is the question, the keel is the deep draft (4'6") and i would have preferred the shoal draft (3'3"). What is the Keel on this boat made of? Is it more then just fiberglass? is there a way to cut it down to the 3'3"?

My second option is at the junk yard there is a 25.5 with the shoal draft, the keel is in good shape but the hull is toast. Would my keel just unbolt and the shoal draft bolt right back in place?

I am sorry again if these questions are ridiculous, I am green when it comes to boats with keels.

Thank you for any input.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

That's an interesting question!

As to the first part .... NO!!!!! Do not cut down your keel. If I'm not mistaken, Hunter's keels are steel, if not lead.

But since you have an option to obtain a shoal draft keel from an identical boat otherwise, I think you could remove the deep fin and replace with the shoal draft. Removing the bolts and the keel from the hull might be the tricky part if it is adhered with an adhesive that won't give (which it probably is).

I've often thought about doing the opposite ... I have a shoal draft and thought it might be fun to swap it for a deep fin sometime in the future! My boat is designed both ways, as yours appears to be. There doesn't appear to be any difference between the hulls and rig.

The shoal draft keel should be significantly heavier than the deep fin because it has to balance the loss of depth with weight. It either has a bulb or maybe a wing?

 

[divermon]

 

[higgs]

Your keel is most certainly not fiberglass. As far as I know, Hunters use lead, which is good. I have read articles about people using a chain saw to cut off the bottom foot or two of a keel and then have that lead reformed into winglets which were the attached to the remaining keel.

You do want to keep ballast at the designed specs.

The junk boat probably will have the same bolt locations as your boat, but you are going to have to take measurments to be ssure.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Bossman, that job can be done, but I promise you, it is a BIG job. Having undertaken several keel projects, it is not a job for the faint hearted. It will most certainly entail heavy equipment, such as the travelift, etc. to handle it, unless you happen to be a very good rigger, and know how to handle weights underneath an object such as a boat. The propensity for catastrophic failure, and/or fatal errors is a real possibility. The time and expense you are likely facing, may well offset that good deal you got on the boat.
A nicer depth finder might well be the alternative..

 

[mark_swart]

I had an 84 Hunter 34 and it had an iron keel, I suspect yours is the same.