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Manrique's bilge keels - the preferred
keel configuration of the designer David Feltham |
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Jasmine's fin keel, in profile, like
the bilge keel, is cast iron. Interestingly David Feltham says
that he didn't actually design the keels, but it was done by
a colleage |
Jasmine's fin keel, leading edge. Seawolf
fin keels have a very fine leading edge |
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Woolfee's keel, trailing edge. Note
almost as thick as the leading edge |
Rosa came with a very non-standard keel.
Unfortunately I assumed it was designed by a Naval Architect
and was a standard SW keel. It did go as badly as it looks,
but the hole was the easiest thing to sort out. Aparently it
had a wing keel that was sawn off, and was meant to be like
the Warwick Collins tandem keel. It was much thicker than normal
keels, and was 1 ft shorter. |
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My replacement keel for Rosa. Profile
identical (as I could get) to the standard fin keel, airofoil
fuller in the leading edge. Weight a touch heavier (about 30
kg). There is no standard keels still in stock, so I had to
make the pattern for casting. Cast in SG Iron, a slightly more
workable cast iron. Covered in 6 coats of Epoxy paint, then
a "tie coat" and finally antifouling |
Woolfee has 8 * 1" high tensile
steel keel bolts (1 front and back, + 3 pairs), covered in car
underbody paint to stop corroding. Because the keel is recessed
into the housing seen here, the bolts tend not to stand in water,
which helps. David Fetham now recommends either using High Tensile
Steel, as seen above, or marine grade Stainless Steel, as on
rosa opposite. |
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Rosa has 10 off M24 Stainless Steel
keel bolts. Amble Boat Yard, who fitted the keel, secured them
so tight that I could never remove them without specialist tools.
They used a 5:1 multiplier on their large socket set. The surveyor
overseeing the process suggested I coated the bilges with a
coat of waxed gel (one that goes off without needing to be covered
to keep the air off), so that cleaning bilges would be easy. |
Sooper Trooper's keel, showing slight
variation at the bottom |
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