I'm curious about how the keel to boat weight ratio affects boat handling, performance, comfort and safety in cruising boats. At some point, the keel is going to be so light that the boat will capsize or so heavy it will sink. If the keel is only 30% of the total weight, for instance, is that too 'tippy'? What is the range of keel to total weight ratio within which most cruising boats fall? Is there a certain 'best' ratio? What are the trade offs between more or less keel weight?
ratio of keel weight to total weight
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mightyhorton
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The tendency of a boat to capsize or not is affected by a lot of factors, including sail plan, hull shape, keel design and mass, etc. There are boats out there that have relatively high percentage of their mass in their keel, but aren't really seaworthy... and there are boats out there will relatively low percentage of their mass in their keel or no keel at all in the case of a multihull, that are very seaworthy.
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