Advice, Bilge to fin keel

[warwicksail]

After 1 year searching and finally a good offer on my Warwick. Its time to make a desision on what to Go for.
Can anyone share views on the pros and cons of a fin keel in the bristol channel. The boat will be moored at Lawrenny. The warwick used to dry out in the Towy estury which gave good access east and west.

Heard storys from both sides just not sure Value for money seems to be with the fin keel boats though.

Paul

 

[mrbloto]

hi paul anything to do with sailing is a compromise. i think that you need to sit down and write a list of what you want out of sailing, and what ever the most ticks you put against any particular boat is the boat for you are you cruising, are sailing around cans are you passage making,are you creek crawling, are you looking for the home comforts. the list is endless only you know!!!

 

[Alcyone]

I've been sailing just over a year. When we bought Ishtar (see link) I thought we'd made a big mistake, a fin keeler when most had bilge keelers. We've done a bit of sailing in the last year, and I struggle to think of a time when I wished we'd had a bilge keel. Maybe one night at Ilfracombe, when we could have gone into the harbour instead of anchoring outside.

However, many have commented on our speed and pointing ability. Not having had any other boats, I don't know if it is particularly good, but others say it is.

That's my limited opinion.

 

[Csail]

How about long keel? You can still do stuff like Ilfracombe but the keel is god in BC chop.

 

[graham]

Agree with Andy that a long keel is a good option.The only boat I would rule out completely is one that cant be dried out safely at all.

Some designs arent even safe to lean against a harbour wall due to the deep but narrow fin keel.

It all depends on your priorities.It is nice creeping right into a harbour or bay then drying out safely on bilge keels but as a general rule they dont perform as well under sail.(There are exceptions to that).

 

[Zephyr362]

one leg good

My first boat was a twin keel Hunter Duette, I dried out at Ilfracombe a few times but couldn't sleep when she was lifting or settling due to the banging and twanging of the rigging. One night she settled with the bows on the sand, not very comfortable!
Since then a Sadler 29 fin, never dried her out as there are limited places to do this nicely anyway and the additional couple of foot of draft didn't stop me going places, after all with our tidal range it will rise or fall a couple of foot in less than 1/2 hour.
Her pointing ability and lack of banging as air got under the keels was great, now a Sigma 362 with 6ft fin which has little trouble with the BC chop and gets me there quicker and of course further in comfort.
There's nowhere I've been desperate to get into that I couldn't access.

As mentioned in an earlier post, it's all about what you are looking for in terms of sailing comfort and accessibility to places and performance (stability and pointing ability), if you into creek crawling the twin is good. For performance it has to be a fin, even though the Hunters twin keels are far better than most the difference was pronounced.

If you know the model of boat you're after see if you can get a sail on a fin and twin versions. The extra pointing abilty and speed of a fin may make you smile, it did for me!

Good luck

 

[wotayottie]

Of my first three boats, one was a cat and the other two were bilgies. I've changed this year to a fin because a/ it was a change and b/ I like winter racing.

If you are a cruiser in the channel then you would be daft to go fin keel uinless you wanted a boat above 35 ft or were a marina groupie. There are so many nice places like Porlock that are unavailable to fins and there are so many drying harbours. I am aware already that my cruising in the channel will be much more limited.

Modern bilge keelers ( I had a Moody 336) are so much more effective than the oldies like the boat you had that the performance advantages of fins are not great. Maybe 5 deg better to windward but thats it. Matters in racing but irrelevant in cruising.