# Scheel keel



## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

While I assume one of the drawbacks of the Sheel type keel would be a lesser ablity to point, are there any other disadvantages inherent in them (in conjunction w/skeg hung rudder)? I''m looking at a 4'' draft on a 30 or 33 foot boat, that will primarily be used for coastal/inland sailing.

I would expect it to track somewhat better than a fin, and also be more sturdy in the inevitable grounding. As I will be singlehanding, I find both of these "supposed" advantages to outweigh not being able to point quite as high.

Would appreciate any insight from anyone who has sailed with this underbody. Thanks.

Fair winds,
John


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

A Scheel keel is a type of fin keel with a specialized bulb, so it tracks no better (and in fact generally tracks worse), and it offers no better grounding protection than a fin keel of a similar depth. It does offer marginally better pointing ability than an equal depth fin keel and it does offer better stability to an equal depth fin keel. 

The good news is that in a US Naval Academy study bulb keels were found to be the easiest to free in a grounding.

The bad news is that four feet of draft is pretty extremely shallow for a 30-33 foot draft. Unless the boat is quite light weight so that you will have a shallow canoe body, you will not have much of a keel foil. When you talk about that kind of extreme shallow draft you the rudder typically ends up being nearly as deep as the keel and so is much more vulnerable in a gounding. 

Respectfully,
Jeff


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

You might take this request to the Tartan email list, where I expect many Tarten 33/34 owners might share their experience with such keels.
IMHO, the advantages related to tracking and grounding seem unlikely to be material differences from deep keel models. If you need under 5'' draft, this keel design delivers that with the drawback you note. If you don''t require shallow draft, get a real keel - I personally would find it dispiriting to have similar or lesser boats slide by to windward when beating out of port! Enough to darken the brightest of sunny days! Don''t give up that performance unless you must.


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

Would seem I may have been in error in my nomenclature. The one I''ve been looking at has no bulb, just cutaway fore and aft. I had thought that was what a Scheel keel was. This boat has a displacement of 9100#, 3900 of which is ballast. LWL is 24''of a LOA of 29''10". Beam is 10''4". Rudder appears to be aprox 6 to 8 inches less than keel, possibly a bit more.

Should I take it your comments still hold true?

Thanks, 
John


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I think that my comments would apply as 9100 lbs is a very heavy displacement for a 30 foot boat especially given the small amount of ballast. This would be a boat with a fairly deep canoe body and a comparatively short foils. If this is not a scheel or bulb keel I would expect this to be a very tender boat for its drag. 

Jeff


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