Winged keel conversions

[Audiguy]

My 1984 Freedom 32 (Hoyt) has the deep keel option . While I wish it had the shoal draft version, it does not.

Given that my boat is Gulf Coast of Florida based and the bult of my cruising will be down the west coast of Florida, the Keys and possibly the Bahamas, I have been told that my 6ft keel will be very limiting...

Has anyone ever seen a winged keel conversion done on a '32? Apparently there is a company in Toronto that has done them and the results are very good. I have not spoken with them, but I will shortly...

Do any of you fellow Freedom owners have any experience with one of these conversions or opinions on the usefulness of doing one
Thanks all.....

[Ereiss]

sounds like a topic you might want to chat with Paul Dennis about. He is at Warren River Boatworks in Warren, RI. He is "Mr. All-things-Freedom".

[scootback]

what would a wing keel bring your draft down to?

Scott Irwin

[Audiguy]

YES,

The current 6ft draft would be reduced to 4'-6" to 5' depending on what we might specify...

I have been told that the F32 is a little light in the water at 9000 lbs and I've been advised that a 4' -6" keel and a 12-13000lbs would be much better. I cannot see hanging 5000 lbs on the existing keel...

More research is needed
Richard

[Audiguy]

I spoke with Paul Dennis as recommended and he has never seen the keel on a F32 shortened but he did refer me to Eric Sponberg a naval architect what has done several winged keel conversions on various other boats.(Eric can be googled)

His recommendation is that it will not add significantly to the value of the boat, it will give greater access to shallow areas of Florida and the Bahamas and last, regarding keel weights.

If 12-14" are moved, that will be a 1000lb reduction which he would replace with that much and possibly a little more with the bulb or winged conversion....Definitely no more weight than that...Based on his recommendation, if 1000 is removed, replace it with 1000 to 1500lbs...no more than that is necessary...

Kind of says all that is significant...