Keels all the same?

[Bruce Trotter]

This is going to be a dumb question to most of you but I will take the heat and feel better knowing ! What is the difference between a swing keel, retractable keel and a center board or are they all the same with different names?

 

[Dan McGuire]

My Guess

I will go first, since no one else has. Start Sailing Right by the ARC has the following defintions. Center Board is a pivoting plate of wood, ... etc. that keeps the boat from sliding sideways. A daggerboard is similar, but moves up and down. A keel is a fixed underwater fin that provides stability and keeps the boat from sliding sideways. Therefore a swing keel is a weighted fin that provides stability and keeps the boat from sliding sideways. A swing keel is pivoted from the front and swings up and down with a cable.A retractable keel is similar to a swing keel, but does not neccessarily move up and down on a pivot. It could crank up and down vertically.

 

[Brian M]

My two cents

Hi, here is my two cents, Dan hit it right about definitions...Here are the differences, a dagger board is just a fin for sideways stability. A keel be it fixed (molded part of hull) or swing are weighted, some quite heavily to counter-balance the effect of the wind pushing on the sails wanting to tip the boat over. However in strong enough winds and water it can happen.Brian M.

 

[Gwen B.]

Does This Help?

All keels work to minimize "leeway" -- the tendancy of the wind to push the boat downwind, or to lee, or sideways, if you will. But there are practical differences. As an example, I just bought a 1969 Venture 21 with a "swing keel". The keel is raised and lowered by a winch located in the cockpit. With the keel lowered, my boat draws 5.5 feet - quite a bit for a boat of her size and displacement. But with the keel lowered and locked in place, the boat is self-righting, a major safety feature. With the keel raised, she only draws 18 inches. Quite a differece! Many larger boats with fixed keels will draw less -- say 3.5-to-5 feet--but you loose flexibility. Dagger boards are typically found on smaller boats. The critical question is where you're going to sail. Offshore sailing is a very different thing from inland or coastal sailing, or gunkholing. Some may argue, but offshore sailing requires a heavy, fixed-keel design.