Choose Carefully
Vicki: You should choose very carefully. We have a friend who sails a wing keel and envys the way our boat with its swing keel performs. She says that her's doesn't point as well as the boats with swing keels, and I believe her. There's also something about the way a wing keel pitches compared to a swing keel. The swing keel design on the Catalina 22s is much thicker at the bottom than at the top. This really gives it much better righting moment than boats that have it thicker at the top than the bottom, (like Chrysler 22s did). Anyhow, in choppy waves, when we were beside a wing keel C-22, I have seen the bow on the wing keel go up and down much more than our bow did. I believe this is because the weight of the winged keel is not deep enough. The swing keel, with its weight lower, acted as a slower pendulum, compared to the winged keel which acted as a shorter pendulum. There was a big difference in the way the 2 boats handled the exact same waves. If you are sailing on waters that have shallow areas, the swing keel is wonderful. Ours has encountered the bottom countless times. With a winged keel, you will have to be much more careful, but maybe this isn't a problem where you plan on sailing your boat. As to puting it into the water and taking it out by yourself, I recommend that you help someone do this a few times. I can't say that it can't be done, but I know I appreciate the help of my family puting ours in and taking it out, and wouldn't want to attempt doing it alone. Aldo
