Wing keel vs fin keel

[langstonelayabout]

It's a fair point. I shortened my rudder by about 3" to match the keel without any discernible difference to the steering. Catalina did themselves no favours economising on one rudder design rather than two, which is a pity given the many good points about the boat.

Can’t really understand the problem, if there is one. My old Catalina 270 had the same rudder blade irrespective of the keel: short and winged or conventional fin keel.

My 270 had the wing keel and normal rudder. All behaved and sailed correctly. Is there a problem?

 

[Lucky Duck]

Was the rudder deeper than the keel?

 

[Laminar Flow]

Can’t really understand the problem, if there is one. My old Catalina 270 had the same rudder blade irrespective of the keel: short and winged or conventional fin keel.

My 270 had the wing keel and normal rudder. All behaved and sailed correctly. Is there a problem?

Only if you hit bottom at speed and with the unprotected rudder projecting below the keel.

As some old salt once told me: If you don't occasionally hit bottom or get some proper weather, you ain't really cruising.

 

[langstonelayabout]

Was the rudder deeper than the keel?

No, it was the same depth as the keel.

 

[geem]

"I would never say it was pleasant but we do it. "

It isn't and though I've done it through necessity I never choose to. Having a keel that will do that a bit better while being slower and less convenient in the other 99.9% of sailing I do doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

I guess it depends how and where you sail. We would never choose a shallow draft version of a yacht if a deep draft version exists. If you have had to sail to windward for days rather than hours then the best performing keel moves up your priority list. We dont find a deep keel limits our sailing. On occasion we have to think about what we are doing more carefully. For example, cruising the Bahamas. If we really want to get in to shallow water we anchor the yacht and explore in the 3.5m long hard dinghy. On the plain we draw less than 6” and can do over 20kts if we want to. We get to go several miles in places no shallow draft yacht would ever get. Its just a different way of doing things. The great thing about using the dinghy is that there is no stress or risk

 

[Robin]

No, it was the same depth as the keel.

And therefore no problem foreseen unless the rudder is less effective. Not the same as having a having a shoal draft keel but not actually a shallow draft as the rudder is considerably deeper and would hit bottom first.