Does anyone have a boat with a Wing Keel?

[mica]

I would love to have first hand information from anyone with a wing keeler.

Particularly on how this type of keel takes the ground, both in mud and hard standing. May need to moor alongside a drying pontoon, but would like to know the method and consequences, before putting it into practice.

Thanks in advance for any tips.
MICA

MICA

 

[BrianJ]

OZ 2 had one and look how that went, mind you dont go where the owner went...I hear it isnt too nice there.
brianj

 

[jamesjermain]

Wing keels come in many forms, serve different purposes and behave in different ways.

When Australia 2 shook the world by beating the Americans at their own game, everybody thought wing kewls were the way to go for performance. It was soon realised that A2 succeded because the keel was a rule bender which allowed performance enhancing changes to rig and hull.

On normal boats a wing keel does not give added performance so much as allow shallowed draught without too great a penalty in windward performance. They keep weight low and add to stability. They also tend to damp down pitching and give a light boat the feeling of a heavier, larger vessel. This is particularly the case down wind but is also noticeable upwind in choppy conditions when the lesser pitching can lead to a speed gain.

Drying out on a wing keel can be a problem, depending on its size and shape. It is possible for a boat to stand upright on a wide keel, in which situation she is very unstable and liable to fall over unless lashed firmly to quay or pontoon.

There were fears, and even reports, of wind keels sinking into mud and then getting stuck, so that the boat refused to rise with the tide. I think these stories were apocryphal, but you never know. Also, a wide wing which dries out at an angle, puts big stresses on the wind roots and the keel/hull joint

Modern thinking on keel design has produced a form very similar to the shape invented and patented by Admiral Scheel - ie a flattened bulb form which keeps the weight low, is very efficient and strong. Sometimes this form is combined with winglets but these seem an affectation to me. A Scheel-type keel will dry out very much like a normal fin keel except that it is a little less prone to sink into mud.

In summary, if the wings on your keep are broad, I would think twice about drying her out on unknown ground but more restrained forms will dry out much like anormal fin keel.

JJ

 

[jamesjermain]

Wing keels come in many forms, serve different purposes and behave in different ways.

When Australia 2 shook the world by beating the Americans at their own game, everybody thought wing keels were the way to go for performance. It was soon realised that A2 succeded because the keel was a rule bender which allowed performance enhancing changes to rig and hull.

On normal boats a wing keel does not give added performance so much as allow shallower draught without too great a penalty in windward performance. They keep weight low and add to stability. They also tend to damp down pitching and give a light boat the feeling of a heavier, larger vessel. This is particularly the case down wind but is also noticeable upwind in choppy conditions when the lesser pitching can lead to a speed gain.

Drying out on a wing keel can be a problem, depending on its size and shape. It is possible for a boat to stand upright on a wide keel, in which situation she is very unstable and liable to fall over unless lashed firmly to quay or pontoon.

There were fears, and even reports, of wing keels sinking into mud and then getting stuck, so that the boat refused to rise with the tide. I think these stories were apocryphal, but you never know. Also, a wide wing which dries out at an angle puts big stresses on the wind roots and the keel/hull joint

Modern thinking on keel design has produced a form very similar to the shape invented and patented by Admiral Scheel - ie a flattened bulb form which keeps the weight low, is very efficient and strong. Sometimes this form is combined with winglets but these seem an affectation to me. A Scheel-type keel will dry out very much like a normal fin keel except that it is a little less prone to sink into mud.

In summary, if the wings on your keep are broad, I would think twice about drying her out on unknown ground but more restrained forms will dry out much like a normal fin keel.

JJ

 

[Guest]

If you run aground with a wing keel you can't get off by heeling the boat because the draft increases when she heels. In areas of small tidal range this can be a concern.

 

[Ningaloo]

My experience with a Spring 25

I owned an MG Spring 25 for three years. This is a 25 foot boat with 3 foot draft using a broad wing keel and twin rudders.
I think that the main purpose of the wing was to get as much ballast as possible without increasing draft. It was not designed for hydrodynamic efficiency. The boat was designed to be able to dry out sitting on the wing and balancing on the rudders, although the rudders themselves did not seem to be strengthened in any way.

Although I used the boat from a marina berth, I did dry her out on firm sand (Ryde harbour) a couple of times without problems. The rudders did sink into the sand a few inches so we ended up stern down but this was not a major problem.

I also kept her on a 1/2 tide mooring which dried to soft mud for a week. In this case (Portsmouth) the mud was soft enough to allow the keel to sink like a normal fin and there were no problems about it getting "stuck" on the flood tide.

Oh, and we also ran aground once in the soft mud of Chichester when she also sank into the mud and refloated without difficulty.

BTW the Spring was a great 1st boat!

Hope this helps.

Stuart Eastland

 

[Guest]

I have an MG Spring 25 and I agree that the motion through the water is dampened by the keel and I have had no problem drying-out on mud although the boat is nose-high as the rudders have a smaller draught than the keel.
I recently got the boat accidently stuck on a mud bank at Tollesbury on a spring-ebb and despite trying to reverse-engine/kedge-off/heel it was stuck hard. At low water, I noticed that all my efforts to re-float had sunk one of the keel-wings fully into the soft mud (indeed the boat was at 45 degrees while grounded) together with the starboard rudder (about 12 inches in the mud). However, on the flood, the boat floated off with minimal of fuss.