Can drop keels take the ground?

[steve yates]

And if so, do they. to get stones/mud jamming the centreboard?

But I'm sure that Charles stocks (edited to get name right! Charles green was a photographer.) shoal waters was a drop keel and he was forever drying her out somewhere?

Are there some tips or techniques that prevent the keel jamming ?

And if there is just a little stub there, does that not make the boat very easy to tip over onto its side once grounded?

Thx.

Ps,,in my case specifically I am getting a brad well 18, if that makes any difference.

 

[ProDave]

There are so many drop keel / lift keel designs, that there is no one answer to this question.

My own boat, the keel pivots at the front, and when up the bottom is flat. She sits nicely upright in the soft mud in her drying harbour. No issues with the mud clogging the mechanism. BUT I would not want to try drying out on an unknown bottom, for fear there may be a sharp pointy bit of rock that could spell disaster.

Looking at this http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=6040

It seems your keel is entirely "under" the boat, i.e it does not lift up into the cabin like mine. So you have a stub keel there always. So I guess if you dry out on firm sand she might tip over a bit, but I am sure she will re float okay.

 

[dylanwinter]

There are so many drop keel / lift keel designs, that there is no one answer to this question.

My own boat, the keel pivots at the front, and when up the bottom is flat. She sits nicely upright in the soft mud in her drying harbour. No issues with the mud clogging the mechanism. BUT I would not want to try drying out on an unknown bottom, for fear there may be a sharp pointy bit of rock that could spell disaster.

Looking at this http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=6040

It seems your keel is entirely "under" the boat, i.e it does not lift up into the cabin like mine. So you have a stub keel there always. So I guess if you dry out on firm sand she might tip over a bit, but I am sure she will re float okay.

that is, to my way way of thinking one of the unsung assets of a twin keeler with metal keels - you can go down on almost anything without worrying about damaging the hull.

I had an eboat - fine for drying out on mud - but an unknown surface was a real worry

D

 

[Seajet]

My boat has a lift keel with a 9" deep 900lb cast iron ballast bulb; the top of the bulb is veed so it fairs in with the hull when the keel is up.

She settles more upright than the twin keelers, on the soft mud at our half tide moorings.

In fact even though the mud is soft enough to be dangerous to walk on, when the tide has receded not much of the bottom is in contact with the mud, the forward and aft say 3-4' and 2' to the sides amidships below the waterline are in fresh air if you see what I mean !

On sand she would be heeled over about 20 degrees but I never do that anyway, due to the pounding and the fact the bilge would be resting on the unknown seabed too.

The bulb keeps out any stones or mud, never had a problem with that.

I have known other lift keelers where the keel just retracts into a slot, and they have had problems with small stones causing jamming.

As Dylan says, boats with fully flush bottoms when the keel is up are very vulnerable; if I had bought such a boat I'd really want a good look around the mooring at low water from a dinghy to check there are no pointy stones etc, before putting the lift keeler there.

 

[seumask]

Depending on the depth of water your craft requires, with the keel raised I found it is often shallow enough to examine the bottom carefully with your eyes or get out and walk around with your feet.

 

[Tranona]

One of the benefits of the type of keel you have is that it is all outside the hull so little chance of water getting in. Downside is that you cannot access from inside the boat to clear any obstruction as the only bit open at the top is where the lifting wire comes through. If you are dropping into mud then it may be worth leaving a little bit of board down so that it moves in and out as the boat settles so reducing the chances of it getting stuck. The old fashioned solution to clearing slots was a thin iron lath, but that assumes you can remove the top of the box. You may, however, find that there is enough room around the lifting wire hole to at least get a rod down to hit the top of the board if it gets stuck.

 

[steve yates]

Thx, I'm guessing some home made beaching legs are only going to keep her upright and won't help keeping **** out of the keel slot, as they aren't really taking any weight themselves?

 

[Tranona]

Beaching legs are only to stop it from falling over. Weight is still taken on the keel base.

 

[dylanwinter]

I sold the eboat before trying this but I had four large fenders - I had plans for putting these under the hull and using a series of ropes to keep them in place so that the hull sat a few inches clear of the bottom

 

[Seajet]

Beaching legs are for firm surfaces, and I + others would say only for when you're aboard; if one foot dug in and the boat leaned on it there might be nasty hull damage.

The problem with getting out to inspect around the mooring at low water is, the boat is already there, and what if you do find something nasty, more to the point what if the boat settles on it first try ?

Which is why I suggested a recce by dinghy first.

 

[steve yates]

im thinking more for a permament mooring to be honest, just wondering if there are options to an expensive pontoon.

 

[Tranona]

im thinking more for a permament mooring to be honest, just wondering if there are options to an expensive pontoon.

If it is mud - and particularly the fore and aft one on that you were looking at it will make its own hole to sit in. If it is hard sand the boat will just lean over and rise and fall with the tide - lots of boats are kept on moorings like this. Legs would work if it is hard sand and the boat does not swing - very common in western France on boats with underwater profiles like yours.

 

[Simondjuk]

We dried our Evolution 25 out frequently on various surfaces. If the area was unknown, we'd creep in and find an area clear of rocks which were our only real concern. Mud, no problem. Sand, no problem. Gravel and shingle, no problem. Never had any problems with pounding on hard bottoms if in reasonable shelter. If there was little shelter, we'd drive the boat gently aground on the falling tide so she was just firmly enough on for pounding not to be an issue. Never had a problem with the ballast lifting keel jamming on any bottom type. Prior to our ownership, the boat had lived for 30 years drying out each tide onto a gravel creek bed. The largest of the not very many marks left in the hull by the boat taking that hard ground something in the region of 22,000 times was about the size of a little fingernail and about 2 mm deep. It's not a process which causes me nearly as much concern as it does some.