Drop keel 563

[Ozzie]

Spied this on Gumtree

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/seaford/ ... 1038131443

wow

[kevwr400]

Good spotting. Thats an interesting mode! Would be great around the bouys. Maybe not so good for a cruiser! I went the other way with AM adding 60-70mm to keel and removing swing all together.

[Yara50]

Kev- did you add any weight in the extension? Or move the ballast lower?

Cant see the point in the drop keel, as it screws up the accomodation design, which is one of the good points of the Investigator 563.

[Ozzie]

Maybe he got sick of keel bolt problems?

The boat appears to sit low on the trailer. Could it be that he has actually trimmed the keel. ?

Different strokes I guess.

[Dr. Peter]

I would be very interested in the fixed keel operation too. Ross of Wagtail has extended the rear of his keel. Did you do anything like this? Have you noticed a significant amount of slippage to leeward?

[Dr. Peter]

Kev- did you add any weight in the extension? Or move the ballast lower?

Cant see the point in the drop keel, as it screws up the accomodation design, which is one of the good points of the Investigator 563.

I agree - it is an important advantage.

[kevwr400]

Im not exactly sure how much more ballast I added 40 kg of cement and approximately 12kg of glass, misc, etc. Original swing keel weighed 23kg plus keel box approximately 4kg. Something around 25 extra kg. I chose cement and used original lead ballast blocks with a couple of layers of grp over top to secure tightly into bilge. Now have storage of approximately 200x1000mm under floor. Boat is very stiff repelling gusts much more sedately. Points ok, about the same to lee. Litte slower to turn with standard rudder. Dont need to reef as early. Very happy with it from a cruisers perspective. Although it is slower, I could benefit from a larger head. Tossed up going to a mast head rigg, with a jib that filled the new standing rigging, say a jib of a 21 footer, mmm thoughts

[Yara50]

Ross of Wagtail has extended the rear of his keel.

Ah the secret weapon! A very good idea, as the streamlining of the original design is poor. However, if you are a racer, I think it would disqualify you unless you provided a new rating number, but that sort of thing is not my bag. Great mod for cruising, though.