drop Keel

[tonyg]

My 17' gaffer dayboat is a bit tippy when pressed, and am thinking of fore and side decking, ballasting, and increasing weight of drop keel. The latter is of 15mm glassed ply and I am wondering if I could manufacture one of the same dimensions but in lead. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks,TonyG

 

[graham]

Id be carefull of adding too much to a small boat ie the extra decking etc. all the extra weight may make her sluggish.

15mm lead will bend under the strain but 15 mm steel would give you a surprising amount of extra stability and be strong enough for the job.

If it was my boat I would go for the steel centerplate first and only add extra ballast if really needed.Remember that any extra weight at deck level will cancel out the stability gained by extra weight in the centerboard so keep it all as light as possible.

Another thing to consider is the sails,if they are too baggy they will overpower the boat and spoil the performance.

 

[tonyg]

Thanks Graham, I did wonder about the bendiness of lead and shall now go for footplate steel, faired-off with glassf.
I'm not too concerned about topweight of planned decking because(a) I won't do anything too gross, and (b) the spars are a bit overweight and could do with size reduction. Also, because the boat is Devon Lugger-like, weighing around 800lbs,
I am fitting a mizzen so she can be sailed under this and jib if things get too boisterous off the southern Irish coast. (and I'll take your advice about the ballast.
Thanks again, Tonyg.