Dufour lifting keel

kmc05uk

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1 Feb 2005
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Hi does anyone know anything about the lifting keel version of the Dufour 2800? most importantly whether one would dry out on a mud mooring ok. ive been searching and searching but cant find a photo or dragramme of the underneath of one /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
thanks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

William_H

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I don't know the Dufour but would expect that the keel swings out of a long shallow keel containg the ballast. This method is popular in that there is no intrusion into the cabin space however the long shallow keel would mean the boat would tumble in drying out and worse possibly pump mud into the swing keel cavity fouling the operation.
Some swing keels actually lift into the cabin area with a long trunk rising from the floor very inconvenient but does allow a flat bottom for trailers or grounding. My boat has a lift keel which lifts vertically leaving a very shallow draft and flat bottom however again the keel (centreboard trunk) intrudes into the cabin and it is difficult to traverse to the front cabin in a smaller boat. Some higher performance boats have this arrangement but with a balast bullet on the bottom of the keel which is awkward on a trailer and would cause trouble when grounding. I realise you are talking a bigger boat than I am familiar with however these seem to be the main arrangements and specifications like "draft keel up" might give you a clue.
A 28ft boat suitable for grounding on the hull should have a draft I imagine less than 40cms. Just a guess it is probably not suitable although stabilising legs would not be too long. regards will
 
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