Motoring - lift keel up or down?

[RogerFoxTerrier]

If you have a lift keel yacht, do you leave it down when motoring (in calm conditions) or bring it partially or fully up? Our FoxTerrier has a vertically lifting keel which I'm always tempted to raise when motoring, as I would with a dagger board in a dinghy when going down wind, but I'm really not sure how much difference it makes.

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others with lift keels...

 

[Tintin]

With my Ovni 435, yes I do, and it reduces drag and I get another 0.5kn of boat speed.

If the wind is strong and on the beam then I'll drop it 1/3rd to 1/2 to give better directional stability.

And when sailing, often on a beam or broad reach it'll only be down 1/3rd too.

 

[neil_s]

My Seal 28 has a vertically lifting drop keel, through an external ballast keel. It's certainly up when motoring - in fact if I'm feeling lazy, I don't bother dropping it when sailing either. Takes 150 turns on the handle!

 

[Gixer]

My old westerly Nimrod was all over the place when motoring with the keel up. even dropping it by an inch or two made a noticeable difference.

 

[Sea Change]

My Deb 33 had a centreboard and the helm became unbearably heavy with it raised. It probably depends on the design of your boat.

 

[RogerFoxTerrier]

My Seal 28 has a vertically lifting drop keel, through an external ballast keel. It's certainly up when motoring - in fact if I'm feeling lazy, I don't bother dropping it when sailing either. Takes 150 turns on the handle!

I have a 17 year old son to do it!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Ours is one yank of a line to raise and lower. The boat has so much more directional stability that I’m happy to sacrifice any speed gain. It would also be nearly impossible to dock without it.

 

[dunedin]

Does it depend on sea state ? No experience in yachts, but in many dinghies centreboard fully up often meant a prompt swim downwind, whereas partly up was much more stable (through hydrodynamics, not weight)

 

[Sea Change]

Does it depend on sea state ? No experience in yachts, but in many dinghies centreboard fully up often meant a prompt swim downwind, whereas partly up was much more stable (through hydrodynamics, not weight)

Although it's also possible for a dinghy to trip over its board and capsize. There was a good anecdote doing the rounds in the Wayfarer scene. With a squall approaching, one boat lifted its board and simply slipped sideways in the gust. Every other boat dipped a gunwale and capsized.

 

[Refueler]

As another suggested ... the type of boat and seastate makes a difference up or down .. or partial down.

Most boats would be more stable with it at least partially down ....

 

[Chiara’s slave]

And if it’s knocking half a knot off, then perhaps some attention to it’s surfaces over winter should be on your to do list. Our board makes no measurable difference.

 

[KevinV]

Guessing the shape of your hull is quite similar to mine I'd guess it'd be a pig to steer with no directional stability without a bit of centreboard.

 

[steve yates]

I have an outboard powered bradwell 18 and have never motored it with the keel up, except crossing very shallow areas.

 

[pandos]

I raise mine going down wind or motoring.. it makes a difference to speed and it is easier to sail wing on wing with it up...(It's a southerly 100)

If it the sea is lumpy I'll let it down...

There's a button at the helm to bring it up and drop it..

On my last sail I was going upwind with no keel down, I had a huge tide helping me so I was doing ok in terms of leeway, when it came time to tack nothing happened...despite using all of my repertoire of bad words, then I remembered the keel...

 

[dunedin]

Although it's also possible for a dinghy to trip over its board and capsize. There was a good anecdote doing the rounds in the Wayfarer scene. With a squall approaching, one boat lifted its board and simply slipped sideways in the gust. Every other boat dipped a gunwale and capsized.

Yes, going upwind in strong winds in a dinghy, lifting centreboard or daggerboard slightly helped dissipate gusts. Used to do this in Laser as a lightweight, long before Radial rig was invented.
But equally downwind zero board was often tippier than circa 1/3 down - and even better with centreboard, as fin moves aft.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

How about rudder up as well.
Interesting experience when you forget it's up.

 

[Cerebus]

My Seal 28 has a vertically lifting drop keel, through an external ballast keel. It's certainly up when motoring - in fact if I'm feeling lazy, I don't bother dropping it when sailing either. Takes 150 turns on the handle!

Could you mechanise that )even if it is simply a battery powered drill at the least?)

Or does the boat behave safely with no need of keel drop (I am not familiar with the boat or it’s stability data).

 

[Ingwe]

Bear in mind some keels are not designed to be used part up. I have a first 18se, a similar question came up on our Facebook group a couple of months ago and the designer came straight back and said don't do it, basically the shape of the keel means that if it is only part down it does not fully fill the slot due to slight tapering of the keel section, so can move more than it should laterally and damage the mechanism.

 

[Cerebus]

Bear in mind some keels are not designed to be used part up. I have a first 18se, a similar question came up on our Facebook group a couple of months ago and the designer came straight back and said don't do it, basically the shape of the keel means that if it is only part down it does not fully fill the slot due to slight tapering of the keel section, so can move more than it should laterally and damage the mechanism.

This sounds very logical inho.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

How about rudder up as well.
Interesting experience when you forget it's up.

Clearly a man who likes to make life difficult for himself.