Keel Fairing

[mojounwin]

Just wondering if anyone has any real life comparisons of performance gains from fairing a keel?

What sort of boat?
What condition was the keel in before you started?
What condition was it in when you finished fairing?
What performance was gained (point/ speed)

I think we all know in theory a properly faired keel will be better, but just looking for some real life scenarios.

Cheers
Mojo

[sorenfdk]

Originally Posted by mojounwin

Just wondering if anyone has any real life comparisons of performance gains from fairing a keel?

What sort of boat?

Yngling.

Originally Posted by mojounwin

What condition was the keel in before you started??

As built. Many Ynglings of this particular make a delivered with an asymmetric keel.

Originally Posted by mojounwin

What condition was it in when you finished fairing??

Mint - symmetric and smooth as a baby's...

Originally Posted by mojounwin

What performance was gained (point/ speed)?

Well, they won bronze medals at the Athen Olympics (OK - they were among the favourites, but still...) The fairing took place just before the start of the games and the crew's coach told us that they wished they had done it earlier, because they weren't able to take advantage of the speed gains. Neither speed nor pointing ability was measured.

We have just faired the keel of a 40 footer. The speed gain is hardly noticeable, but according to the owner it now points 2-3 degrees higher.

[mojounwin]

Cheers
Mojo