A few years ago we, as a class, instituted a rule that any keel fairing had to be within an 1/8" of the compu keel template that we built for the class. Only 2 boats have done the fairing since. Last year they were first and second in Hi Point for the season. They were really good sailors and fast boats to begin with, but they also value every advantage they can get. I didn't see Tom's fairing job being done, but when Julian was doing his it was amazing how much lead he was pulling (planing) off. To put this in perspective, the amount of lead Julian pulled out of his keel will be more than tf will be putting into his new i550 build. But I will say that it is not the lead being taken out that is the improvement. The shapes of our keels are so random and messy (for a race boat anyway) that filling in and smoothing out the rough spots will make a difference. Is is HUGE? Probably not, depending on the condition and original build of the keel, but it will make a difference. The biggest I saw visually was a the trailing edge. The template that we use (honestly don't know which one it is) has a hard "chine" on the leading edge and just looked faster than the randomly rounded trailing edge the boat used to have. I will say that the boys at Muellers who did the job were particularly proud of turning the "tanks" keel into one that looked like it could be on a "real racing boat." I had to go and measure it (the boat was that of the fleet measurer) and just about everyone in the yard came over to tell me which part they did. CD In a message dated 3/16/2008 4:01:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
oh and btw, theirs was defintely the IMPROVED version...really came out looking a lot different than the Catalina factory keel. tf **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)
