Hi Dan,
+-------------- Doug Purdy wrote to Dan Bernasconi (May 4, 95) ------>>
|
DP> I didn't see any replys on this so I thought I would put in my two
DP> cents. Its like asking what type of bottom paint is best, lots of
DP> different answers.  I read a good article from a guy that has a wing and
DP> says they're better! He says the convetional keel digs into the bottom
DP> and gets stuck where the wing rides on top. He said to turn it around
DP> and "WALK" it back out. I believe he motored and kept steering back and
DP> forth about 30degrees on each side of the direction he wants to go. I
DP> have no experience with wings myself though.  Good sailing. Grounded!
DP> Knot Again!!!!!!!!
   -------------------------
     If you expect to hit something or bottom out, don't expect any favours
from a fin or winged keel, especially a bolted keel!  The likelihood of
sustaining damage is by far a greater concern than whether or not you can
get "unstuck" without the use of ground tackle.  A coventional keel won't
offer any guarantees either, but it will certainly give you a much better
chance of getting ungrounded and on your way without taking on water.  The
stories I've heard regarding this subject have been impressive for the
conventional keel, and disasterous for the fin shape keel.
  If all things are equal, and you don't expect to hit anything, then I
guess it all depends on the sort of sailing you do... but even then, there
are good and bad designs using both types of keels, so the type of keel
itself won't make any promises on performance or structural integrety.
The general rule of thumb is that long keels are good for cruising and fins
for racing and rec.sailing, but even that has been challenged many times
over since the fin trend started up again in the '60's - always
emperically, I might add, but challenged all the same.
  I didn't catch the original message of this thread, but if you were
asking which type of keel your next boat should have, I would say go for
the boat first, not the keel (that is, if you're sure you're not going to
hit any bottom).  Which ever keel it has should work well if the boat
itself is well designed and constructed.       IMHO
      Cheers,
              Augustin~~~===
... "Which is the non-smoking lifeboat?"
 * Q-Blue 1.9 [NR] *
 * S2S Toronto, Ontario  (416) 322-6814
--- WM v3.11/93-0359
---------------