I am struggling to form a view on the suitability of the CSY 44 (1980 vessel with longish keel, but cut away at front I believe) for offshore cruising with a 4’11" shoal draft. A Cruising World article of 1997 said that the shoal draft (deep is 6’6″) has a significantly reduced righting moment and recommended the deep keel for offshore. I am interested in: 1. Stability/righting moment (this is important to me) and 2. Sailing ability for world cruising–i.e. how much harder is the shoal keel, the impression I am getting is that it is not good for that sort of cruising–to the point of not being suitable at all? Many thanks
Hi Barbara: There is no way to know for certain what the range of stability will be with any boat, unless you have detailed design data, or do an inclining test to determine stability and couple this with the hull shape and weight to work up the figures. Most US magazines tend to not print negative comments–so if there is something along the lines you mention in Cruising World, I would give it some weight (of course they often make mistakes too). Another approach is to check with insurance carriers for the record of losses on the boat type you are considering. If you like everything else about the shoal draft version, but not the LPS, you can always add lead to the bottom of the keel to improve the righting moments and LPS. This is not a big deal on most boats–especially if they have external lead. Good luck–Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
