Cropping the keel of a 30 ft. Hunter

[Paul Memmer]

I found the necessity to crop my Hunter 30ft. sailboat and wonder if any of the guys have ever cropped a Hunter. I have the 5.3 and need to crop to about 3.5 to 4.0. Please let me in on any info that you might have even if it is heresay. Thank you for your time. I do not want any other sailboat as I really enjoy my Hunter but will have to make this adjustment to keep it. Thanks again PaulP.S. I am at a friends house and would like email to this situation sent to my house which is cgaux104@ewol.com.

 

[Steve]

Call Hunter

Paul -First of all, I'm not a Naval Architect, so I don't claim any expertise here. The first thing I would do is call Hunter and ask them what they think. My concern here would be that you want to shorten the keel by as much as almost 2 feet. On the '91 30T that I had, it had an iron keel. That means a cutting torch and rewelding of the bulb. Not a weekend project. You'll be shortening the righting moment component of stability without any decrease in sail area. You will be having some controlability issues, IMHO. But, again, I'd call Hunter and consult with a Naval Architect if you can.Good luck,SteveS/V Options

 

[Steve Dion]

Chain Saw!

Paul:You may want to contact someone before you start this project. You may want to contact Mars Metals in Canada. They could actually make some wings to replace the weight that you are removing.There was an article in one of the magazines (maybe Sail or Cruising World) in the past year where someone did what you are looking at. The placed some half bulbs on the sides of the existing keel.

 

[Stephen Ord]

I think it was Cruising World

The article explained how he did it with a chain saw and how he got the correct weight added. I have thought of doing that as the Great Lakes seem to be receeding. Hm I wonder how they would calculate my handicap with that change is structure?

 

[Joe Boyette]

Chain saw too

I think you should just take the chain saw to the rest of the boat if you mess with the keel. Go ahead and cut it all up! Seriously, you would be drastically altering the sailing charicteristics and courting disaster. Sell your boat and find a shoal draft version of the same boat...check with Hunter.