Installing keels????

[Day Tripper]

Aloha,

I'm considering eliminating Lee boards and installing keels Approximately 8" x 12 ft. Any input? The boat is a 36x18 cat, 6500 lb, the hulls are flat with no rocker aft. Center of effort is 23 feet aft of bow. Mast is 43 ft and has 600 sf of sail. It sails in 20-25 knots on a typical day. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[PAR]

A fixed fin(s) cat? Determining where they should live is a reasonably easy task for a designer. There are very general rules of thumb, but the year, make, model and rig options of the yacht need to be known for any real assistance.

This is a multiple post, which might be best left in this forum.

[Day Tripper]

thanks for your reply, this boat is the only one made. It will be rigged with a fixed fractional marconi rig. Just knowing the general rules of thumb would be helpful. Photos are posted on this site -
http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/diamondtech/Boat%20redone/

[PAR]

This isn't something you can take a "stab" at. You either know, or guessing can be a very expensive proposition, though I'm not suggesting you are.

It's a task for a designer, preferably one familiar with this particular boat. Without a sail plan (the CLP can be estimated from the hull profile you've provided), I wouldn't want to speculate where new appendages will live and still balance the helm.