"cavelamb" wrote in message
m...
wrote:

If the purpose is just to present a surface, then it's a centerboard.
If the purpose is also to provide substantial ballast similar to what
a fixed keel would offer, then it's a swing keel.

Two different animals.

Maybe not the best crusing boat, but consider the Catalina 25.
It has been offered with ballasted swing keel, shallow draft wing keel,
and a deep fin.

I've not had the opportunity to sail any of the three, so I can't offer
any first hand comparisons.

My slip neighbor has a wing keel.
Looking back at some of the photos, his boat always seems to be reefed in
any wind. He also ran aground last year! But to be fair the lake was down
several feet then.

The fin keel is fairly rare. But I would expect it to be the best
performer
to windward.

Which leaves the most popular swing keel.

Anybody have any real experience with any of these - for comparison
purposes?


Richard

I used to have a Catalina 22. What a great boat. Used it more than any other
boat I've owned, enough room for the Mrs and I to weekend and sailed good
too. As I recall, it drew something like 1 1/2' with the keel up. Had a
Ensenda 21 before that and there was huge difference between the 2. The
Ensenada was really lightly built with no "refinements" like not having a
deck (gelcoated headliner, may have the nom wrong) liner, just glass. Big
difference in sailing too.
I've sailed quite a bit on fixed fin and swing keel boats (above and a 22
Hunter) but can't compare as the smallest fixed keel was 27' and probably
3-4 times the weight of the Catalina.

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 21:36:01 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:17:03 -0400, "mmc" wrote:


"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"mmc" wrote in message
ng.com...
Agreed. Shallow water is the reason for my preference of a swing
keel.
I'm
just off the Indian River Lagoon, where (as I'm sure you know),
except
for a few spots in our area, sailing is pretty much restricted to the
ICW
channel for boats with more than 4' draft. These open areas are
mostly
deep enough but I've done my share of sandbar hopping on a friends 27
Hunter with 4'2" draft. There's the ocean too, but we're about 5
boat
hours from the inlet which doesn't allow for "just hop on the boat"
outings.
For shallow water I think that a centreboard is best if you want a
boat
that can go well to windward when there is sufficient depth and yet go
into shallow water with the keel up.
I don't understand your preference for swing keel in shallow water,
unless we are not talking about the same thing. To me, a swing keel is
what the deep ocean racers have, with a heavy bulb at the bottom that
can
be swung to one side to provide better stiffness on a long tack. In
restricted shallow water that would be useless since when you tack
there
would be insufficient water to swing the keel down and hoist it up the
other side.

We're talking about the same thing. I've always understood a swing keel
as
the as the type that is drawn in a arc (pivoting on a pin at the top)
into
a
trunk, either under the boat or inside the cabin as in the Freedoms.
But then, I could have been using the wrong terminology for a long time
now!
I beleive the term for a type you describe that pivots side to side is
"Canting Ballast".


I've always thought of a swing keel as being a centerboard that is
also substantial ballast.

Yes, some are and some are not heavy. I have raced dinghies with cb's
weighing almost 200 pounds and others where the cb was plywood for
lightness
with a slug of lead cast in to ensure it stayed down.



If the purpose is just to present a surface, then it's a centerboard.
If the purpose is also to provide substantial ballast similar to what
a fixed keel would offer, then it's a swing keel.

Two different animals.
Thanks.

I'd suggest that you go to http://www.FreedomYachts.org/ and ask any
questions that you may have. You'll get much more detailed answers than
you'll get in here.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Thanks. I follow the Yahoo owners group. This looks better.

"mmc" wrote in
ng.com:

We met a couple from the RAF Yacht Club that had a Amel. What a
beautiful boat.



The outside is nearly as pretty as the bilge! Under the Sharki 41's galley
is the main bilge pump. It's so far down to that pump, my arm only reaches
about half way to it!

I like the feeling of also have 3 watertight bulkheads between me and
sinking, not zero. The chain locker aft bulkhead is the first. The main
salon's forward bulkhead is second. The aft bulkhead of the aft cabin is
third. All sink/shower drains go into the bilge to be pumped overboard
ABOVE the waterline. No plastic fittings blowing off and flooding her or
water spraying up into a sink in a blow. The forward head shower and sink
drain into a basin under an open teak deck water just runs through.
There's a steel pipe with ball valve to secure in a bow breach back to the
main cabin watertight bulkhead to prevent flooding the main bilge. It's
all very well thought out, first class.

The whole center cockpit deck is the engineroom cover that hinges up.

Why dream so small, when you can dream LARGE?
289' Perini Navi

aka Maltese Falcon - for sale!

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...d=22866&ur l=

"cavelamb" wrote in message
m...
Why dream so small, when you can dream LARGE?
289' Perini Navi

aka Maltese Falcon - for sale!

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...d=22866&ur l=

Ya, that might make a decent dinghy for my boat. Thanks for the link. :-D

KLC Lewis wrote:
"cavelamb" wrote in message
m...
Why dream so small, when you can dream LARGE?
289' Perini Navi

aka Maltese Falcon - for sale!

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...d=22866&ur l=

Ya, that might make a decent dinghy for my boat. Thanks for the link. :-D



You're on the Nimitz, right?