Joe wrote:
This style of hull has tremendous strength and the fin keel offers good
windward ability.

Not necessarily.

... The steel hull will absorb shock and bend with impact
where fiberglass would crush and tear.

Again, not necessarily. Fiberglass is a very nice material
in that you can specify what modulus you want... it is now
used in tank armor, for example.

Sven Lundin wrote about building test panels of foam-core
fiberglass that would absorb shots from 40mm cannon. His
boats are rather unconventional, and far too small for most
people to be comfortable long-term cruising... but it would
be difficult to imagine a stronger & more seaworthy vessel.


.... This makes real sailors feel
much better when sailing at night when it's possible to hit a partially
submerged object such as a floating log or shipping container


More than a few production boats include a Kevlar laminate,
which would also be proof against such collisions. Or, if
you don't like any of them, you could add a layer of Kevlar
to a boat whose design you liked.




Robert also has a nice full keel Spray design.


Pete Culler built what is probably the most accurate Spray
replica, and he said (while fond of the boat) that it was
slow as a barn. Nor is Spray a good design for offshore
sailing, it has rather low reserve stability. Remember that
Slocum was lost at sea!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King