Retractable Bulb Keel?

[NowWeTryItMyWay]

I was looking at the new Class Globe kit with the keel with the big bulb on the end of it.  It occurred to me that if there was some way to retract the keel into the cabin, it would have a pretty shallow draft not unlike the Core Sound boats.  I was wondering if there was some reasonable design for making that work?  Maybe not on this boat but on boats generally?  Or whether it would require a bunch of trade-offs that make it not desirable?

 

In my mind, it would be a short, tightly fitting centerboard trunk, maybe a foot tall, and about as long (fore to aft) as the length of the keel itself, with a removable lid at the top.    While you're underway and the water is deep, the keel would be all the way down and the removable lid would be tightly fastened down with a gasket or clamp or something to make it watertight.  But when you wanted to raise the keel, you could take the lid off and crank the keel straight up vertically, perhaps with a line and some blocks, or perhaps with a handle + crank.  The keel would then be retracted into the cabin, probably with the topmost part resting up near the ceiling of the cabin.  The bulb could either stick out because it is too big to fit through the slot, or perhaps the bottom of the boat could have an indentation so that the bulb fits in and doesn't stick out past the bottom of the boat.

 

This might be good for sneaking in someplace protected when you're done sailing for the day.

 

[Steve W]

I thought the same thought when I saw that......

[AmosSwogger]

I think it depends where you plan on sailing.  I'm very glad the CS20.3 centerboard pivots, if it didn't I probably would have broken it off by now!

[Designer]

I have gotten pretty intimate with the 5.80 plans recently so I will attempt to answer these questions. I have seen and created all or some of the above suggestions but I think that Don has struck the right balance for this boat. It not a gunkholer and never will be. It is a no compromise deep water boat. The keel profile is a heavy steel plate that also has the bulb profile. There is a heavy steel flange curved to the hull rocker which he wants welded by a certified welder (there is so much weld length that I would be very confident of my welding). This flange is bolted with 5 pairs of bolts through 5 heavy oak floors. The lead bulb is made in two halves with three large bolts bolting the three parts together. The bolt holes in the lead are counter bored for the heads and nuts, and faired with a soft filler so that it can be dug out.

 

The idea is to have a simple strong structure that is the ultimate in simplicity, strong, reliable with the maximum righting moment for the weight and not interfere with the limited interior. It can be trailed but needs to have a deep ramp to launch. I have trailed a J22 which was possible but restricting.  The keel can be all easily unbolted and man handled if necessary, say to get it into a container or long term storage.

[Steve W]

Graham, You got a bunch of gunkholers here that just don't get the concept. It's a cool design but I'm very happy with Skeena. I haven't lost sight of land in a long time and was bored every time it happened.  Different boats for different folks.

[AmosSwogger]

I'm not the target audience for this boat, but it really intrigues me.  Love the concept of a cheap backyard built,  simply designed ocean racer.  I have been watching the videos and following the class closely on FaceBook; I just can't help myself.

 

Congratulations to B&B for landing the kit design job.

[peakaigh]

A major reason for wanting a lift keel/cruising version of the 5.80 is to reduce the cost of keeping the boat.  I find the 5.80 a very enticing design, a  wholesome, solid and very capable boat. The kit design and video is an amazing piece of work.  However, with a fixed keel, the difficulties involved in keeping the boat look too hard, at least for me.

 

With 1.4m draft it will have to be kept on a mooring or in a berth.  However, these are expensive and may not be available.  Alternatively one could put the boat on a trailer/jinker and keep the boat on hardstanding but this would need access to a deep ramp or a crane with slings.  Better still, if the design incorporated a single lifting point then it could be hoisted in and out of the water, like an Etchell, rather than having to use slings around the hull.  

 

However, all these options require access to facilities that are typically only available at the more expensive yacht clubs or marinas. Maybe I am wrong but I fear the cost of keeping a 5.80 may not be that much different from keeping a 30' yacht.  I feel this is at odds with the philosophy of a boat that you can build cheaply at home

 

If a cruising/lift keel version of the 5.80 was available it could be kept on a suitably designed trailer with the bulb nestling under the hull.  Storage on hardstanding or at home is now easy.  The boat can be readily transported to events in different locations. 

 

Of course the keel trunk will reduce space in the cabin. However, if one is no longer concerned with meeting the racing specifications the keel could be redesigned with a foil section rather than a plate. This would allow the chord of the keel to be reduced to perhaps 500mm, maybe even less, which would help alleviate this issue.

 

I acknowledge that Don McIntyre may not be keen on fragmenting the 5.80 class but I do feel that a cruising version with a lift keel (and an anchor well!) would be well received.

 

[Hirilonde]

The 5.80 is a single handed, or double handed, ocean racing machine.  Everything about the design was aimed at making a seaworthy, tiny, fast boat. Everything else was compromised to get to this. The basic concept was taken from the Mini 6.5. It is a poor design for cruising. By the time you store the sails and other racing and safety gear down below there is no room for any amenities. They don't even have berths. Solo 6.5 racers sleep in the cockpit for 15 minutes at most, or maybe duck below for their 15 minute nap on top of a sail bag stowed to weather.  They eat back packing food using portable backpacking stoves to boil the water. They are planing hulls, and designed to be and stay super light weight.

 

As Graham has mentioned, the mechanism for a drop keel would be outrageous to build, or have made. It would be very heavy and expensive.  The rig is so tall, that only the bulb at the end of a very deep keel would keep it upright. By the time enough other compromises would be made to accommodate anything else but a deep bulb it would be a completely different boat.  It would probably end up a lot like a Mk 3.  Damned because it's all related.  

[Hirilonde]

This boat should end up as a small, less complicated  version of this one: