Draft dodger

[Phil Herring]

The ancient keel dilemma still holds true today: a deep keel for better pointing or a shoal keel for better gunkholing?

What do you have and even more important, what do you wish you had?

Depending on how and where you sail, one keel configuration can have big advantages over the other.

On the other hand, the best solution may be to find an ice-cold draught and wing it.

What's your preference?

 

[jssailem]

Clever picture choice Phil. I see what you did there. A little tongue in cheeky.

For me the keel was not a choice. It came with the boat designer and the age of the boat.

Sure a foiling keel... keels might be fun

 

[Justin_NSA]

We have a shallow marina at our reservoir. Water level is a determining factor of our sailing season. The longer it stays up, the longer our season can last. Draft can compensate some. Hence, we "dodge the draft" with a 4'3" depth provided by a wing keel. It was one of the requirements when we were looking for a cruising boat

Edit: the other part of the question. I wish my keel was lead, not cast iron. Ignorance on my part.

 

[RoyS]

I have a fin keel and no experience with anything else, so take my opinion with that in mind. I draw a little over five feet so I can anchor in most places. On those few occasions when I have touched bottom there was no damage, only embarrassment. Some of the wing keels I have seen would first touch bottom with their rudder! What were the designers thinking? A keel is a robust structure capable of supporting the entire boat. A rudder is a weak but critical appendage and certainly not capable of supporting your boat if you run aground. What were they thinking?

 

[sail sfbay]

Don't forget the twin or bilge keel. Works well when the tide goes out leaving the boat resting on the bottom. Popular keel in Tenby, Wales, where I lived for 3 years (Tenby harbor photo at low tide below).

 

[smokey73]

Hey Phil, Isn't that picture of the blue hulled boat from Cherry Point NC of a boat on the land after a Hurricane?

 

[jssailem]

Bingo @smokey73. Chet tell Smokey what he has won.

 

[JRT]

Our lake made me stay away from deep keel boats, My C310 is a wing and seems fine for our needs. My old O'Day 25 was a swing centerboard and every now and then I would bump along the bottom with it fully down.

 

[capta]

I've operated, delivered, and owned deep and shallow keeled vessels of about every configuration, and would always take at least 6' for cruising. With a 6' foot draft you can reasonably anchor in 10' of water in most Caribbean tide less anchorages, and frankly that's close enough to the bugs, no-see-ums, and mosquitoes that inhabit the land, for me. The sailing advantages are of course obvious, but at anchor I believe a foot or so can make it more comfortable.
I operated an 80' motorsailor with a 9.5' draft all over the northern Bahamas and though I used a lot of rolaids, the only place we ever touched bottom was the sand bar in the back door entrance to Hurricane Hole Marina (our mast was too tall for the bridge).
Skipping Stone is the second centerboard boat I've owned. it really is the best of both worlds and I see absolutely no downside to a well designed and built board boat, even when you include the occasional maintenance of the board.
It not only adds draft when sailing, but the amount you put down can effect trim as well, which can mean a lot when the wind's up and you are sailing well reefed. We often use the board in rolly anchorages and it is very noticeable when you drop the board a foot or two when the swell begins. Dump it all the way to 10.5' and it's almost like putting a peg in the bottom to slow or minimize the rolling.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Our lake made me stay away from deep keel boats, My C310 is a wing and seems fine for our needs. My old O'Day 25 was a swing centerboard and every now and then I would bump along the bottom with it fully down.

When our reservoir was down, I could raise the centerboard on my old Mac26S to get out of the docks. Sometimes I even had to raise the rudder some until we got to deeper water. The swing CB was handy when we used the "braille" method to get thru some of the shallows.

 

[jssailem]

no downside to a well designed and built board boat, ...... the amount you put down can effect trim as well

Everything we do on our boats affects trim. Some will say "Oh No now I need another trim card..." Better to familiarize your self with the physics of the boat and what the trim controls do than to trust your decisions to a card. The card is only an aide. No card is going to suggest "lower the keel to reduce roll at anchor". Understanding what causes the boat to roll and how you might affect this condition will naturally lead you to say "What if... I lowered the center board".

Thanks for the insight @capta.

 

[Ward H]

I was told that if a boat ever turns turtle a wing keel provides a more comfortable seat than a fin keel, so I bought one with the wing keel.
Might be handy if I ever get out into deep water.



In the meantime, the 3'10" draft of the wing gives me a bit more margin for error in the shallow waters of the bay. There are times that a 5' fin keel would have kept me stuck in the mud in my slip waiting for the tide to come in but my shoal draft wing slides over the top of the mud.

 

[Tally Ho]

I sail on Lake Michigan, and depth is almost never a problem for me. Our marina has deep water access, and I am in 30 feet of water right out of the marina, and in 40+ in no time.

My first boat had a 5’ fin keel. I liked it. My current boat draws 4’ 2”, with a wing keel. I don’t think she points as well ( but has lots of other outstanding traits).



Greg

 

[DougM]

My boat has a 5’6” draft. I normally have no water depth issues where I sail. Chart depth in the marina is 9’ and with the high water right now depth is more like 14’. Sailing in Lake Michigan, many of the harbors entrances are dredged to accommodate freighters, and by the time you are 3 miles out the water depth is 300 feet and getting deeper.

 

[smokey73]

Little different here in Beaufort SC. Mostly mud here so if you run aground its generally "run amok" The channels are "scrubbed" by the 8 to 10 foot tidal range so there are good places to sail, but outside those scrubbed channels it gets shallow fairly quickly and there are some shifting shoals now and then. My draft of 4' 10" is an advantage. If you do run amok here, as long as its not at high tide, you pop an adult beverage of your choice and wait for the tide to come back in and float off (may have to walk out an anchor to keep you from drifting in with the tide to shallower water though). Don't ask me how I know Its about 8 miles out to the really open sound and about 15 miles out to the ocean. Less if you're berthed near Hilton Head Island. We do get to sail all year long and don't have to winterize or shovel show at home though!

 

[FastOlson]

Phil, I never worried about the draft.... I enlisted instead!

Our boat draws 6', and if I had the $10 grand (approx) I would convert to a Mars Metals split bulb and cut one foot off of it. It would keep us off the mud in a number of places around here. And, from accecdotal evidence my boat's pointing ability would be very little changed.

But our Lotto tickets to fund this particular project seem to be 'defective' whenever we actually remember to buy one.... !

 

[Ron20324]

... Phil, I never worried about the draft.... I enlisted instead!

And thus the loss at the Alamo.

 

[Justin_NSA]

"son, there ain't no draft"