I am an owner of a 1978 H27 shoal draft. Has anyone changed the keel on their boat? I have access to stainless steel and can fabricate something, but i need to know how much weight i can afford to lose, i am thinking of building a bulb keel but i am a little nervous.
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Two possibilities...
I have a shallow draft '77 h27, so I have thought about this idea, too. But we are cruisers - pointing is not so critical to us. And with the Great Lakes so low, 3' 3" looks really good. So we will are not considering this move. But there are two possibilities: The first is to trade in the shallow draft h27, and buy a deep draft. This sounds extreme, but there are good boats out there, and changing keels will surely cost you more than buying and selling the boat. The second alternative is to find a used h27 deep keel, and buy it to replace your shallow draft keel. The hull and rig are the same, as is the keel attachment. Look in the archives of this forum, and you will find a thread by a fellow who had to write off his hull, and was selling off the pieces - including a deep draft keel if I remember correctly. Building a new keel is really not an alternative. This means redesigning the boat - understanding the keel, hull, and stability of the boat as if you were designing it from the start. Hiring that kind of talent would be expensive, but a really competent designer probably wouldn't do the job - there are more interesting projects, and original design data are surely not available. There are some other good threads (for other boats) about trying to reconfigure the keel, or the rig. Most of them reach this conclusion because the risks of screwing up the boat's stability, performance, and resale value are quite real. Remember that the deep draft keel is only 12 inches deeper, and 200 pounds lighter. So you can't afford to lose much weight at all. David Lady Lillie
I have a shallow draft '77 h27, so I have thought about this idea, too. But we are cruisers - pointing is not so critical to us. And with the Great Lakes so low, 3' 3" looks really good. So we will are not considering this move. But there are two possibilities: The first is to trade in the shallow draft h27, and buy a deep draft. This sounds extreme, but there are good boats out there, and changing keels will surely cost you more than buying and selling the boat. The second alternative is to find a used h27 deep keel, and buy it to replace your shallow draft keel. The hull and rig are the same, as is the keel attachment. Look in the archives of this forum, and you will find a thread by a fellow who had to write off his hull, and was selling off the pieces - including a deep draft keel if I remember correctly. Building a new keel is really not an alternative. This means redesigning the boat - understanding the keel, hull, and stability of the boat as if you were designing it from the start. Hiring that kind of talent would be expensive, but a really competent designer probably wouldn't do the job - there are more interesting projects, and original design data are surely not available. There are some other good threads (for other boats) about trying to reconfigure the keel, or the rig. Most of them reach this conclusion because the risks of screwing up the boat's stability, performance, and resale value are quite real. Remember that the deep draft keel is only 12 inches deeper, and 200 pounds lighter. So you can't afford to lose much weight at all. David Lady Lillie
Why?
Why would you want to do that? I have an '82 shoal draft and wonder what benefit a deep keel would have beside the obvious.
Why would you want to do that? I have an '82 shoal draft and wonder what benefit a deep keel would have beside the obvious.
The hull write-off guy
I'm the guy that was going to scrap the 77h27. We eventually found someone that would take it off our hands and try to fix it up. Not sure how much progress he's made on it yet. He lives in OK and the boat is in MD, so he doesn't get a lot to time to do very much. (Actually, I think he's completely nuts, but who am I to dampen his dreams??
I'm the guy that was going to scrap the 77h27. We eventually found someone that would take it off our hands and try to fix it up. Not sure how much progress he's made on it yet. He lives in OK and the boat is in MD, so he doesn't get a lot to time to do very much. (Actually, I think he's completely nuts, but who am I to dampen his dreams??
Reply to hull write off guy
Your also the guy that doesn't have the courtesy to in form people he is doing business with what the situation is!!
Your also the guy that doesn't have the courtesy to in form people he is doing business with what the situation is!!
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