"Joe" wrote
The fin keel on a C&C 40 is approx 8' long and 1.5' wide. when the C&C
hits something it rips the hole thing off starting at the smile
working aft. Add 6" on each side of the thin hull that gets ripped of
with it. Just a guesstimate.

Duh! Not very bright for a guess. Don't they use some big bolts to hold the keel
on? Don't they use fiberglass thicker than anything to bolt it to. If you hit the keel
hard enough to knock it clean off you'd break the bolts before you'd rip the
whole bottom of the boat off. You gotta think of the forces that happen. They
won't try to pull the keel down. They'll try to stop it in its tracks. But the hull
will try to keep going. The bow will go down almost to the deck and the water
will absorb most of the shock.
How fast can that boat go? Maybe seven or eight knots? If the keel hit
a solid rock going that slow it would just bounce back after hitting it.
Nope, it's an insurance scam for life insurance. The guy worked for Microsoft.
He's probably got a huge life insurance policy and a giant retirement plan his
wife's now gonna get. You watch. You'll see I'm right. Somebody needs to ask
the neighbors if they saw anybody loading lots of groceries on the boat.
I was right about that Democrat senator who's practically a vegetable wasn't
I. But I cheated on that one. I had inside info. This time I'm just using my intuition.

Cheers,
Ellen