Can somebody pro/con a full vs. fin keel for a newbie (will learn to sail on said boat) and taking it thru the Caribbean? All I can seem to come up with so far is fin keel is better to the wind, and a full keel will protect your rudder.
There are some cruising boats that in their low draft version have the ruder at almost the same draft as the keel. That looks dangerous to me and on those cases a skeg rudder seems to make semse to me.A cruising requirement for me is a skeg hung rudder, whatever you do, do that, my 2 cents.![]()
If it were financially possible I'd have that later model Malo (or Hallberg Rassey) in a flash and given the overall build quality of the beasts I have no doubt that the Malo spade would be stronger than many skeg hung rudders.Already from this century:
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Regards
Paulo
Fuzzy,If it were financially possible I'd have that later model Malo (or Hallberg Rassey) in a flash and given the overall build quality of the beasts I have no doubt that the Malo spade would be stronger than many skeg hung rudders.
While I would never consider a deep fin/torpedo with leading edge exposed arrangement, improvements in underwater design allow us to have faster cruising boats that do not sacrifice their load carrying capacity. It may not seem much but that extra knot or two makes one hell of a difference on even a coastal passage and without doubt enhances the simple pleasure of the sailing.
Some responses - based on our experiencesOn the bluewater boards, they make it sound like if you aren't in a traditional full keeled boat 40' or better, you are suicidal to sail in anything larger than a 1 acre pond.
The number of fin keeled boats in transoceanic races somewhat belies that. The large number of small fin keelers in the Carribean also kinda belies that.
So I would say any respectable built sail boat thats not too big for your crew to handle, and that YOU can dock comfortably, will take you anywhere you are likely to go as long as you respect it's, and your limitations.
After all how many of us have rounded the capes in winter, or done a Northwest passage, or rounded Antartica?
I prefer sailing in tropical lattitudes outside of hurricane season. That makes it unlikely that I will see anything over a F8 in open water. Even more likely I will be running for the lee of the nearest landmass as soon as a storm is forming in the area, long before the waves build to dangerous levels.
Would a "bulletproof" ship be nice, well yes; but I probably wouldn't sail it as much as I would a light cheap production boat that is easy to dock.
Hi newbee,We have sold our home and are looking for a liveaboard to learn on in Maine. Here is what we know about ourselves. We love being on the water, and are hardy souls who can share a small space for extended periods of time and keep our sense of humor. We bought a tiny little Hunter 21 last summer as our first "learning boat" and had a blast! We are starting the process of finding a boat in the 29-38 foot range with lots of headroom, a forgiving hull, and a reasonable learning curve. We have a budget of around 60,000$ All advice is welcome! Please chime in!!!!
So far we have considered A Sabre 38 with a fin keel, and any Island Packet between 29 and 32 feet. The bigger IP's are out of our financial reach. The Sabre is a BEAUTIFUL boat, but with our limited experience more than we can handle?
Thanks,
newbee
Probably the single most important reason why full keel boats are considered blue water has been discussed for over a hundred years, but interestingly enough not yet pointed out on this thread thus far.Can somebody pro/con a full vs. fin keel for a newbie (will learn to sail on said boat) and taking it thru the Caribbean? All I can seem to come up with so far is fin keel is better to the wind, and a full keel will protect your rudder.