T&T: Bilge keels and skegs

[Alan]

I struggled with the question of getting active fin stabilizers or not in
designing and now building our 53 foot aluminum trawler.  I vacillated back
and forth between fins or paravanes for stabilization.  For a lot of reasons
 I finally decided to have twin bilge keels and paravanes.  Michael Kasten
designed the boat and it is being built in Halifax by YachtSmiths
International.  You can see what the bilge keels look like at their web page
showing our boat under construction:

http://yachtsmiths.com/valdemar_52_gallery_01.htm

To give you an idea of size, you can get to the fins from the engine room
and they are wide enough and deep enough to physically stand in.  The floor
of the engine room comes to a little below mid chest when you stand in the
fins.  The guys at YachtSmiths are going to turn the space a storage area --
for what, I haven't decided yet.

Alan F. Wagner
Tampa, Florida
Building Passage of Time

-------Original Message-------

From: LRZeitlin at aol.com
Date: 7/15/2007 9:29:43 AM
To: trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Bilge keels and skegs

>
> Like you, I would be interested in hearing about the
> experiences of others with strakes, bilge keels, or
> rolling chocks.
>


Michael Kasten has written extensively about the roll damping effects of
bilge keels. Check his website:
http://www.kastenmarine.com

It is a treasure trove of useful information.

Larry Z