Centaur Keels

[Storyline]

The keel problem is made worse by regular mooring in deep mud: The splayed keel configuration (which improves the sailing qualities) means that as she sinks into mud on a falling tide, huge pressure builds up between the keels as she compresses it and forces the mud away. Later as the tide returns, you get exactly the opposite effect,as the keels act like a giant suction pad, with huge pressure inwards as the hull buoyancy increases. Properly reinforced, this is not a problem, and many hundreds of beefed up Centaurs are quite happily squelching down into their mud berths each tide, engineered to cope with it.

I agree. When we were looking for our bilge keeled Pentland (similar era as the Centaur with similar amount of keel splay) we were advised to look for West coast boats that had been kept on sandy drying moorings. We were very lucky and found one that had only spent around 5 years of her life on a drying mooring.

We did have the keels dropped, new beefed up webs and keels rebedded. This is more or less a must do operation for these old ladies.

 

[Seajet]

we were advised to look for West coast boats that had been kept on sandy drying moorings.

What ?!

Had you been 'entertaining' the advisors' wife by any chance ?!

 

[Keith 66]

As Andy says Vertical bilge keels were made for production expediency, think Snapdragon's, keels hanging down like udders. It is interesting to look at other bilge keelers & their reputation / longevity. Snapdragons had no problems as their keels are vertical & over engineered, The Mirage 28's also built by Thames marine had splayed keels but you dont hear of them having problems. Sabre 27's have splayed keels moulded in & they dont have problems.
Hunters also have good reputations & they have splayed keels. Even Jaguars that were at the lower end of the market seem to fare well. Having spent many years in the boat trade i dont consider that Westerly centaurs were built like brick outhouses, their history proves they were under engineered. Fix them right & you should have no worries.

 

[Seajet]

Hmmm.

Encapsulated keels have other problems such as almost inevitable water penetration resulting in ballast corrosion, which can have very nasty results.

The obvious idea to flicker across ones' mind thinking about splayed keels is a wire stay between them, which is equally quickly disregarded !

I really dislike carbon fibre, having dealt with it on Harrier GR5's - at the time the wing was the largest carbon fibre structure ever - but when people were thinking of forward swept wings for fighter aircraft agility advantages - the huge problem is the wingtips will be forced apart - , it was discovered that carbon fibre can be made in such a way that it 'leans' inwards when under load.

That hasn't been used for even fighter aircraft yet, but may be handy on the 'retro Centaur' sure to be coming along sometime !

I'd be happy to trust my, or the acid test, a loved ones' life to a vaguely decent Centaur.

 

[jellylegs]

Centaurs are brilliant boats, like all the Westerly range. They do exactly what they were designed to do, and do it very well. Obviously there are compromises, but I have yet to find the 'perfect' boat.