Now you've got me interested... the south east US has many
shallow areas, a lifting keel is a great idea.


Markus Rautanen wrote:
Yep, same here in Finland. However I'm slightly suspicious of the consept of
a lifting keel. Would it bother me if I was considering buying a 27.7?
Propably not. It's just a bit hard to think of it being structually as sound
as a traditional keel - although Beneteau assures it is.

It's possible for it to be as strong, but you're right in
that this will require additional work in design &
construction... the biggest drawback IMHO is that it takes
away a notable amount of interior room.

And because it's
lifting, I guess one is less likely to ground it since it's up when in the
shallow areas... The mechanism seemed very simple (in a good way) and as I
said, easy to use.


A big plus. Simple is usually strong too. Question- is the
up/down button located so the helmsman can use it? That is
where it should be, I think.

Around here, people say that shallow draft allows you to run
aground in much more interesting places. Our current boat
draws 1.1 meter and we like to explore.



Fresh Breezes- Doug King


Breeze here is now certainly fresh, considering temperature is around -20
Celsius (about -5 Fahrenheit)


Brr-rrr! Too cold for my southern blood. I am hoping it will
warm up a little here so I can finish fiberglassing our
decks. This is unusual for North Carolina in January.

I started wishing people "Fresh Breezes" in my internet
correspondence about 11 years ago or so, it sounded
friendly. By now my fingers type it automatically.

DSK