littlepati
Active Member
Good little cruiser?
Cobra 750
- Thread starter littlepati
- Start date
Topcat47
Well-Known Member
I missed out on one before buying my Nic. Home completed ones are very variable but the standard factory completed boats are OK. I've sailed two and while they are pretty typical bilge keelers (I've not seen a fin keeled version) they are nicer to live on than my boat due to their broader beam. The one I missed was home completed but a fastidious craftsman. I don't think I'd have ever changed it, had I managed to buy her. The Nicholson sails better though.
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Met the designer several times and he knew his stuff,a good little twin keeler not bilge keeler
littlepati
Active Member
did you buy the nic26
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
What's the difference?
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Well as far as I can see bilge keels are more like the stubby things seen on say a Macwester 26 whilst twin keels might be seen on various French built boats as being the more advanced design to illustrate the difference
MikeCC
Well-Known Member
There is a Facebook Cobra and Seawolf group. Might get biased opinion but maybe pointers for things to look out for. Owners seem happy in general though.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
bilge keels were originally added to long keeled boats to stop them falling over when dried out. The idea took hold in the early days of GRP as a way of making shallow draft boats that could use drying moorings. Because they were part of the mould they had to be vertical so that the moulding would come out. Poor hydrodynamically - Macwest26 and Snapdragons as examples. Designers led by Giles with the Centaur developed better shaped keels bolted on at an angle and the idea of twin keels came into use. Others such as David Feltham and Davide Thomas further developed the ideas to the extent that later designs lost very little performance to their fin keeled counterparts. The latest French "Bi-Quilles" go even further using effectively 2 high aspect ratio bulbed fins, one either side of the centre line.
So the distinction between the 2 terms is made because of the huge difference in sailing performance with the only common feature being that they are both attached to the "bilge" area of the boat.
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
I had a mirage 28 for a while it was always described as a bilge keeler but had massive keels and sailed well. I think the two terms are interchangeable.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Mirage 28 was a Feltham design with twin keels as I described earlier. It may well have been marketed as a "bilge keel" at the time because that is/was the generic term. Since then for reasons I have explained "twin keel" has come into common use to differentiate between the 2 different types of keel fitted in the bilge area. In marketing terms used extensively by Hunters with their David Thomas designed boats.
Of course the boat sailed well for a boat with twin keels rather than one - and infinitely better than previous bilge keelers such as the Macwester with its stubby, shallow. upright keels. That (and the generally greater draft) was the whole purpose of Feltham's designs.
So a clear distinction.