[C320-list] Boat Draft and Grounding (Wing Keel)

[David Nolte]

Careful Bert, with the wing keel I believe that our rudders are  
slightly deeper than our keels, by several inches.

At least mine is, and the other 320s I have seen out of the water.

So you need to exercise special care if you ground, especially if you  
try to turn to get off. If you turn on your keel to get off and then  
make contact with the rudder and the bottom, you can damage the rudder.

David Nolte
Beach House 4


On Aug 13, 2010, at 3:14 PM, BAdams3491 at aol.com wrote:

> Just my opinion, but I doubt the boat draft would be  affected  
> whether in
> fresh or salt water.  Might matter with the Queen  Mary, but I don't  
> think it
> would with our boats.
>
> If you have looked at your wing keel, you can see it is quite wide,   
> and
> that the keel is lower than the rudder.  Canting the hull to the  
> side  would
> only serve to bury that side of the wing in the bottom of the  
> lake.   I have
> been aground only once in this boat, and that was not a 'hard'   
> grounding.
> I got off by making an immediate turn and adding  power.
>
> Bert
> At Ease
> #442
>
>
> In a message dated 8/13/2010 2:00:37 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> amiraults at sympatico.ca writes:
>
> All:
>
> My sailing ground (Ottawa River above Parliament Hill,  Ottawa  
> Canada) is
> experiencing historic low water levels due to low  rainfall and last
> winter's
> low snowfall. The result of this has been deep  keel boats unable to  
> leave
> harbour due to the risk of grounding at the  harbour entrance.  
> Yesterday
> afternoon on entering harbour I gently bumped  the bottom at this  
> entrance
> but did not get hung up. For the evening's  races I took the same  
> course in
> and out as that morning's departure and had  no problem; although  
> all of the
> crew was at the bow to raise the stern a  bit in hopes that if I do  
> hit
> bottom it will not be with the rudder.
>
> Two questions. Bear's nominal draft with wing keel is 4'10''. I was   
> asked
> by
> the club manager (when I reported the bump with the bottom)  whether  
> this
> measurement was for salt or fresh water. Would there be that  much  
> of a
> buoyancy difference?
>
> My take on grounding is that trying  to cant the hull to one side to  
> float
> her off is a non-starter as this  would actually deepen the draft as  
> the
> wing
> tilts down further into the  bottom. Is there any reasonable hope of  
> this
> solution working by tilting  the hull far enough over, or is a pull  
> off by
> another boat the only  solution (bearing in mind that the area has no
> tugboat-like craft available  as this stretch of the river is an  
> inland
> waterway)?
>
> I have yet to  ground Bear, but if a grounding will leave her  
> stranded then
> I
> may have to  tie her up until we get appreciable rainfall.
>
> Regards;
>
> Brian  Amirault
> 797 Waltzing Bear,  too
>