Hunter Formula One Keel...

[langstonelayabout]

Formula One owners... How does your lifting keel lift please?

I sail from a drying mooring and need to lower/raise the keel every time I sail. Is a F1 suitable for my type of sailing or should I be looking at a different type of lift keel boat? Does anyone have any links to a site that shows the lifting/fixing arrangement for the F1's keel please?

Many thanks in advance

 

[alahol2]

This review may give you some idea. Looks like vertically lifting but requiring bolts to hold it down. It may get a bit tedious having to fit those bolts each time. Doesn't really look like it was designed for drying moorings, more for trailing; but I don't know the boat.

 

[William_H]

Lifting keel

Just from the link the bulb obviously has to stay protruding from the hull. This can make the trailer design tricky as you have support the weight of the boat on the area each side of the keel rather than centre line.
You might wonder how the hull would cope with its weight on the retracted bulb,
One design I have seen here a Thompson 9 metre has a bulb keel that can be lifted. However this is done by unbolting a section of cabin roof to allow a crane line to drop in to lift the keel. The keel there is also bolted down to provide strength of attachment and seal off the centre boad case. In this case near 2 metre draft with bulb on the bottom. This boat incidentally is no cruiser being an absolute missile under assy spin. The one ride I had on it reached 14kts on a reach.
Anyway back to the F1 it all depends on the keel attachment and how convenient it is to retract the keel. olewill

 

[RalphyM]

I have an F1 am just in the process of moving to a mooring rather than being trailer based.

The keel takes no more than 5 mins to lift/lower and couldn't really be more simple (remove nuts and plates, wind handle!). The main problem is that with the keel raised it just rests against the leading edge guide but is otherwise only supported by the block and tackle. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't be sure what would happen if she dried out as the keel fin could be lifted and cause all sorts of havoc.

Solution for me is a shallow draft mooring that always has 0.5m so she stays afloat.

 

[seumask]

I believe the formula 1 is similar to the medina lifting keel. We had our medina on a drying mooring and she was fine. We had a heavy duty strop to hold the keel up and keep the weight off the winch mechanism. We used to have some wooden wedges to stop the keel banging when it was up. There can be an issue with boats on moorings with the keel up as the centre of gravity can be high, if there is a very high wind / large waves this can cause the boat to be capsized. However if your user ID relates to location I would be happy there with the keel up in relatively sheltered water. We had ours close to the mouth of Chichester harbour and no real problems.

 

[chasbroon]

Lift keel Formula One

I believe the formula 1 is similar to the medina lifting keel. We had our medina on a drying mooring and she was fine. We had a heavy duty strop to hold the keel up and keep the weight off the winch mechanism. We used to have some wooden wedges to stop the keel banging when it was up. There can be an issue with boats on moorings with the keel up as the centre of gravity can be high, if there is a very high wind / large waves this can cause the boat to be capsized. However if your user ID relates to location I would be happy there with the keel up in relatively sheltered water. We had ours close to the mouth of Chichester harbour and no real problems.

I have owned a Formula one for 7 years and she dries out in our harbour on spring tides without any problems. The bulb keel only protrudes about 10 inches. On a mud bottom the bulb sinks into the mud. On a harder bottom the boat settles on the keel then heels very slightly and shares the weight on the hull also. The framework that contains the lift mechanism and to which it is supported by two bolts when lifted is very strong and the top of the keel rests against it when fully retracted sharing the weight of the boat throughout the vessel. Never had any problems at all. Winching up takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Bolting down when lowered takes less than 5 minutes and is simple.

 

[Seajet]

Chasbroon,

must be a reason to answer a year old thread now ?

My Anderson 22 lift keel relies on the wire and winch to hold the keel up on the mooring; although I've never had any problems it seemed a bit hard on the lifting gear, so I drilled through the angle steel supports and keel with it in raised position, allowing me to fit a strong steel pin when on the mooring and slightly detension the winch.

This also proves handy when changing the keel wire every few years, as I say most A22's do without this quite happily, I know of one other who saw the modification on my boat and did the same, but it is handy and kinder on the set-up.