Fin keel replacement

[Nikos]

Hi everybody,
I own a First 42s7 and though the hull and boat in general is very fast I lack angle sailing upwind.
Ofcourse this is due to the shallow keel instead of the bulb and the winglets. As I am racing the boat frequently I would like to get a solution to find a new deeper fin keel or to modify the existing one. I guess I could build an extension from carbon fiber and attach it to the bottom of the bulb. But I am not sure about the results or benefits if lets say I could make an extension of 50 cm...Any ideas?

 

[rgranger]

It might be cheaper to sell and then buy the boat you want for racing than to modify a keel.

 

[Jackdaw]

Under any modern handicapping formula you will get a reasonable credit for your wing keel vs the deeper fin. Swapping the keel with give you better windward capability, but also a more difficult handicap number. So it nets out the same.

If you are keen on swapping the keel anyway, contact Beneteau France and see who made the keel. Perhaps they can pour you a deep one, and take your as scrap.

Many keel design and build foundries will shorten a keel, I know of none that will extend one.

 

[DArcy]

I assume you have the shoal draft version, and you are trying to get the deep draft performance.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few options (beyond rgranger's suggestion):
1. Find a scrapped deep draft 42s7, buy it for the keel and salvage/sell off whatever else there is of value.
2. Contact Mars Metal and see if they can make one for you, or find out who made the keels for Beneteau and contact them. They may even be able to use the material from your existing keel.
3. This is a very long shot but reach out to the owners group and see if someone that has a deep draft 42s7 is looking for a shoal draft keel and swap with them. Might be easier to swap the entire boat.