Fin keel offshore cruisers

[castoff]

Jeff H. made the point that ..."Properly engineered and designed, a fin keel can be a better choice for offshore work. Here though is the rub. Few fin keelers in the size and price range that most people are considering are engineered and designed for dedicated offshore cruising."

can anyone give me some examples of such boats in the 35'-38' range that one could get for less than a hundred thousand dollars?

Would the pretorien 35 or the CS36T or the valiant 37 qualify?

Thanks

[Rockter]

When it's rough, a long way from home, at night, and getting rougher, and the wind is whistling, it's a full keel for me every time, with a keel mounter rudder....none of those skeg things.

Nothing is stronger.

Leave the others to their deep fins and spade rudders.... not for me, my friend.

[bestfriend]

Its more about the hull design, displacement, and ballast, than it is about the keel type.

[sailingdog]

You could probably buy a Contessa 32 for that. It is a very solid bluewater fin keel design. It was one of the few boats to survive the Fastnet disaster of 1979. However, it is a bit smaller than you asked...

Part of the problem is that most fin-keeled bluewater boats, tend to be more expensive than their more common coastal cruising brethren. The Hallberg-Rassy's and Nauticats are also good fin-keeled bluewater boats. You can probably get an older Hallberg Rassy in your budget range.

[Tartan34C]

Originally Posted by bestfriend

Its more about the hull design, displacement, and ballast, than it is about the keel type.

I usually think about keel design as an integral part of the hull design, displacement and ballast question. Its all part of the same thing and you can’t have a fin on a hull that would be from a full keel boat and you can’t have a full keel on a hull that comes from a fin keel boat.

Both types of keels have been used successfully offshore and it’s all a matter of what you grew up with and how you want to sail.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by castoff

Jeff H. made the point that ..."Properly engineered and designed, a fin keel can be a better choice for offshore work. .... Few fin keelers in the size and price range that most people are considering are engineered and designed for dedicated offshore cruising."...Would the pretorien 35 or the CS36T or the valiant 37 qualify?

Thanks

You won't find many if any production boats that are engineered for "dedicated offshore cruising.." as the demand for such a type would be small. The PO of our CS 36T did take the boat offshore cruising for five years, so the boat is capable and suitable of such use, but I would not consider it a design dedicated to such use. It is equally happy coastal cruising or racing around the bouys in the bay...

[bestfriend]

Originally Posted by Tartan34C

I usually think about keel design as an integral part of the hull design, displacement and ballast question. Its all part of the same thing and you can’t have a fin on a hull that would be from a full keel boat and you can’t have a full keel on a hull that comes from a fin keel boat.

Both types of keels have been used successfully offshore and it’s all a matter of what you grew up with and how you want to sail.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

I agree Robert. I think the point I was so poorly trying to make is you need to take a close look at the shape of the hull etc, and not just the keel design. Its a basic lesson in physics and motion.

[sharkbait]

Cal 40's won the Transpac several times.I'd say they are fin keelers doing offshore work quite well.I've also been reading in Latitude 38 about a young lady cruising the pacific coast in a Cal 40

[sailingdog]

I believe that would be Liz Clark, the surfer, who is quite pretty and her website about her travels on Swell is located here.

Originally Posted by sharkbait

Cal 40's won the Transpac several times.I'd say they are fin keelers doing offshore work quite well.I've also been reading in Latitude 38 about a young lady cruising the pacific coast in a Cal 40

[Rockter]

What some of us overlook is that on a really long haul, you won't want to go to weather for long.

It is terribly wet, exhausts the crew and beats the heck out of the boat.... like a single wave impact cost me about $3000 to fix... I mean it.

Few of will do that for long, so long haul sailors don't often try to make use of high-pointing keels as the ship gets beaten senseless anyway.

Off Grand Banks once, a stiff easterly over the Gulf Stream and having to go east to get home was bloody awful and we had to rest the crew it was so bad. My boat absolutely hated it and the bow was slowly weakening, the toilet doors would not close, and gaps were opening up in the internal finishings. It's very hard on the boat, and she is a lady after all.

It's quite one thing to have to go to weather, but I am not the type of masochist to buy a ship that will go to weather better in heavy seas as going to weather is so bloody awful anyway. It's different in club racing, certainly, but very different in deep water.

But, off the quarter, the long keel will excel and it needs a big sea to get the rudder to feel vague.

I am a long keel devotee, and even better with a double-ender....they are where it's at for me.

To each his own.