are keels interchangable

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Mike

I have a '79 25' shoal draft. I saw the identical boat with a full keel in it's winter birth in Oshkosh. The keel on that boat looked like it could be unbolted and raplaced with the shoal keel. Was I seeing things or was this an option?
 
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David Foster

Probably yes

based on previous discussions. Of course, you would have to check closely if you got down to a specific case. Hunter was free to change design detailss during a production run. David
 
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Steve O.

maybe

If you could find someone who wanted to swap with you. Otherwise, to buy a new keel would be $$ prohibitive. For example, why put $5000 into a new keel for a boat that's only worth $5000?
 
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Steve de Filippis

it's extremely expensive

i was thinking about that too because i am in the process of buying a 25.5 with a full keel and want the shoal keel. i was quoted roughly $5000-$10000.
 
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Crazy Dave Condon

Extremely high

The big question is to find out if Hunter offers a replacement keel and if so, order it through the HOW Chandlrey. Shipping is one factor and of course the installation. The Catalina swing keel 25 has a replacement wing keel which can be bought and installed for under $4,000. I am in the process of doing one. The key is if you can get the other keel at a reasonable cost. Crazy dave condon
 
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David Foster

Could look for a scrap boat

There was a deep draft h27 discussed on this site this year that was being scrapped. I'm sure I could have got the keel to replace my shoal draft keel at a very reasonable price. But after shipping and installation, the total would still have been several thousand dollars. And I don't really need the improved pointing capability for our cruising use. But you could keep your eyes open for an h25 that was being scrapped, and get the keel for your boat if you really want it. David Lady Lillie '77 h27
 
Jan 22, 2003
744
Hunter 25_73-83 Burlington NJ
Interchangable keels

The moulded fibreglass hull is the same for both shoal- and deep-draught boats. This means the keel-mounting face is identical to either version for a given year. The keels are in fact designed to encompass the same-- or almost the same-- lateral area as well. This is why you see odd-shaped shoal-draught keels with vertical forward faces and long points leading aft and so forth-- the boat will not balance or self-right properly unless the lateral resistance properties of the keel are preserved from one version to another. Still a shoal-draught boat always has less righting moment than a deep-draught one... but that shouldn't need explanation. If I had the plans I could spec out a deep-draught keel but I have not located hull or keel drawings for H-25 and H-27 (yet). I do know of a deep-draught H-25, 1974 model, at Worton Creek that probably should be scrapped (likely water saturation and delam problems). (The yard owner wants money for it-- joke). Though I always hate to see a hull scrapped for ANY reason, this might be a good way to get yourself a keel, and for less than what the keel alone would cost. Some more enterprising yachtie might think of taking a fibreglass mould off a deep-draught keel and making it available to future upgraders... maybe now that I think of it, it should be me. We'll see. JC 2
 
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