Adding height to keel of fast trawler

I am moving from a sailboat to a trawler. I have looked at several trawlers including fast trawlers. The one that has really suited me is a Californian 34 LRC on every one of my concerns except that props are exposed and the keel is 12 inches short of hitting first. I am concerned about anchorages with shifting winds and tides were you can be anchored in 12 foot of water and wake up to a wind shift and find that you are in 3 1/2 foot of water. We cruise the Florida Keys and the Bahamas so it is not a matter of if you hit the bottom but when.
My present boat is a full keel with a prop in an aperture in front of the rudder. Touching the bottom is not a problem, start the engine and slide off. With the 34LRC this would be a real problem if props are on bottom with the tide dropping. The draft on the boats are nearly the same 3'-5" vs 3'-2" for the 34LRC.
My question is can I extend the keel 12" without any adverse effects such as noise, tracking, steering and vibration? The present keel stops in front of the props by several feet and I would not extend the added keel past where it presently ends and would add about 6' of additional length to achieve the additional 12" of keel draft. I am fairly well versed in fiberglass construction and would use epoxy for construction. I am mainly concerned about the design problems and limitations. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forum.

If I remember these puppies, they have a centrally located skeg a fairly shallow angle shaft with an angled strut. The shaft exits the hull at the base of the aft end of the skeg. It would be a simple matter to install a prop guard attached to the bottom of the skeg and bridging the span between it and the strut. This is little more than heavy gauge bar stock welded up to place some metal between the prop and what might want to bash into it. It's not uncommon to see these incorporate the rudder's heel fitting into it, further protecting your gear.

 

Sort of, but with dual props each about 3' to port and starboard of the short skeg keel. I've looked at other fast trawlers with no keel. All I can figure is the keel is for tracking as it certainly doesn't protect the props.

 

The same is possible with twin shaft setups, just additional attachment points are necessary.