[C38] 1982 Catalina 38 Shoal Draft?

[William Knowles]

Ed I have an 85 #324 the boat is a rocket in light and heavy air. I think
the shoal keel makes the boat behave down wind in heavy air. It is my
understanding that the standard where a bear to steer downwind if you let
it go a little you where rounding up. My boat will do that over 25 if you
are not attentive. Good luck they are great boats. I love to chase down
boats and as we pass them they are always looking to see if our engine is
on.

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 6:36 PM, tdtron at earthlink.net
<tdtron at earthlink.net>wrote:

>  Hello Ed,
>
> I owned shoal draft #95 for about 17 yrs and it is a great sailing boat.
> I didn't race mine but I'm told the standard draft will point slightly
> higher but I had no complaints on how we pointed.  I often had crew from
> other brands and all were amazed at our performance.  One guy even said my
> boat was faster than his Catalina 42 but we have no way to know if that was
> true since his boat was on the right coast of Florida and mine was on the
> left coast.
>
> The shoal version is heavier and was originally more expensive than the
> standard version (extra 800 lbs of lead?) but the center of gravity is
> about the same because of the shallow draft of the shoal version.  The
> shoal version also has a longer keel stub making it much more forgiving on
> grounding.
>
> The extra weight of the shoal draft version may slow the boat in most
> conditions but I think it may have helped us going to weather in rough
> seas.  I have sailed side by side with other 38's going to weather in a
> slop and we seemed to punch through waves better the other boats.
>
> We didn't race this boat and our sailing area was Tampa Bay and the
> surrounding west coast of Florida and the Keys so we needed the shoal
> draft.  Most of our favorite anchorages were about 6' deep and some as low
> as 5' which made us bounce in and out on the waves at low tides but at
> least we could do it.
>
> If draft was no object and you were sure you would never ground, I would
> think the deep draft would be a slightly better performer but as I
> mentioned, if I had owned a standard draft vessel, I couldn't have enjoyed
> all the gunkholes over these years.
>
> There were two shoal designs and I do not know when they made the change
> but my 1981 version had the propeller shaft cutlass bearing encased in a
> skeg that was and extension of the keel stub.  I think this was to
> both eliminate the cutlass bearing strut and also to add some more lateral
> resistance.  Some models, either before or after mine, used a conventional
> cutlass strut like the standard draft version.
>
> One caveat to look for if you do purchase a shoal draft Catalina 38 is
> to make sure it is a true shoal draft and not a deep fin that someone took
> a saw to.  The modified versions can be tender and lack lateral resistance
> for good performance.  There are some bulb keel modifications that have
> bulbs added to the shortened keels to improve both lateral resistance as
> well as ballast but these still don't have the more robust keel stub of the
> factory shoal draft versions.  The "Catalina Smile" , which you will
> probably hear about, was not as prevalent on the shoal draft keels because
> of the longer keel stub where the keel mates to the hull.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Tom Troncalli
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Ed Radtke <edakira at gmail.com>
> *To: *listserve at catalina38.org
> *Sent:* 7/24/2012 4:49:22 PM
> *Subject:* [C38] 1982 Catalina 38 Shoal Draft?
>
>
>
>      I'm very interested in buying<http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/buying.html> a
> 1982 38' Catalina <http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/catalina.html> S&S
> ShoalDraft <http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/draft.html> in great
> shape. It's lived in freshwater in Dallas but I would haul it to the Gulf
> at Corpus Christi. I can find almost NO info about this 4'-11" shoal draft<http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/draft.html>
>  FINkeel <http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/keel.html> (its not
> even a wing keel) and I'm concerned about why there are so few of these
> that seem to exist. Virtually all the 38 Catalinas from that era are the
> 6'-9" fin keels. Does anyone have experience on the coast with one of these
> ShoalDraft <http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/draft.html> versions?
> The current <http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/current.html> owners
> have taken amazing care of their freshwater boat and it sails<http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/sails.html> nicely
> on their lake, but I need to be certain it'll perform in the Gulf. Any
> thoughts appreciated, thanks.
>
>
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>


-- 
W H Knowles
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