The Book of the Sailboat: How to rig, sail and handle small boats

by A. Hyatt Verrill

No one has yet decided definitely whether or not keels or centerboards are the better, although the matter has been discussed, tried and thrashed out for years. As a matter of fact each has its advantages and disadvantages, each is adapted to certain types of boats and to certain conditions and each has its adherents who have no faith in the other type.

Personally, I think the keel boat the better for deep water use where there is a likelihood of heavy weather and yet many of the Gloucester fishing-smacks and many yachts which have won ocean races are of the centerboard type. For shallow waters or where there are reefs, sandbars, shoals or mud-flats keel boats are a nuisance and centerboards are practically a necessity. Where boats are to be hauled on beaches centerboard boats are really the only kind to use, for keel boats will not stand upright and cut deeply into the sand. Flat-bottomed boats are nearly always of the centerboard type; whaleboats have centerboards, and yet catboats and other round-bottomed boats are made in both types.

Keel boats are roomier than those with centerboards for there is no space occupied by the centerboard and its case; they are less liable to capsize, and if made with the same proportions as centerboard boats they are as dry, seaworthy and handy. As a rule, however, the keel craft are much narrower and deeper than those equipped with centerboards and many of them are almost like a plank set on edge. These are stable enough, but they are wet, uncomfortable and hard to handle.

The advantages of the centerboard are that when sailing before the wind or when rowing the board may be lifted and much less resistance to the water will then result and consequently more speed may be gained. When in shallow water the centerboard may be raised or lowered according to the depth of the water, and if a sandbar or reef is struck little injury will result, as the board is free to move up when it strikes an obstruction, whereas a keel boat under the same conditions might be badly injured.

The objections to a centerboard are the difficulties in keeping the case and trunk of the board from leaking, the space it occupies, the necessity of raising or lowering it according to varying conditions and the slight, very slight, chance of losing the board and thus becoming helpless.

Keels, Centerboards, Leeboards and Rudders

1—Section of a keel boat. 2—Section of a centerboard boat. 3—Section of a fin keel boat. 4—Portion of a keel boat’s hull. 5—Boat with centerboard. 6—Boat with leeboard. 7-9—Forms of rudders for keel boats. 8-10—Forms of rudders for centerboard boats.

Centerboards are not confined to small boats as many think, but large coasting vessels and even three-masted schooners are often built with them, which proves that they have many great advantages. Some boats are built in a sort of combination keel and centerboard method, in which a moderate keel is provided and a centerboard is used as well, while within comparatively recent years the fin-keel type of boat has been evolved. In these the hull is proportioned like that of a centerboard boat but the keel is merely a large fin or sheet of metal carrying a mass of lead or iron at its lower edge. All things being equal, the best boat for ordinary use is the centerboard type and for small boats, or the amateur’s use, they are far superior to keel boats of any sort.

Most small boats are steered by means of a rudder and tiller, the rudder being a wooden or metal affair submerged at the stern and the tiller consisting of a handle at the rudder’s upper end. Some rudders are hung or fastened to the counter and can be easily taken off or “unshipped,” while others are under the counter and are fastened to the sternpost with the upper end coming up through the boat or the deck. There are various forms of rudders: some long and extending out for a considerable distance in the rear of the boat, and others high and narrow, but the purpose of all is the same and the rudder is always designed to present an area sufficient to swing the boat around readily or to steer it without using too great force. Large boats are usually steered by gears connecting the rudder to a wheel; as the handling of a tiller connected directly to the rudder of a large vessel would be a very difficult task indeed.