Now that Dancer is getting close to going in the water, I was looking more closely at the charts of my local area. All my previous boats have been shallow draft, around 1.1m-1.2m, which has been fine.

The keel indicator on Dancer is fortunately still working. I wondered if the lights indicate a certain depth?

According to Sailboatdata

Max Draft: 6.16 ft / 1.88 m

Min Draft: 2.08 ft / 0.63 m

Assuming that's right, then i need 0.63m for the keel all the way up and 1.88m for it all the way down.

So, does each light indicate a certain measurement?

The reason I ask is that I will have to go in and out of Walton with the keel partly up if I am not going out on at least a half high tide.

When I spoke to Michael in Brightlingsea, prior to buying Dancer. I am sure he said that for general cruising sailing (i.e not by the seat of your pants) half down seems to hold the boat fine. Obviously our boats do have quite a substantial sail area.

Are there others in a similar situation that can advise what you do and what your experiences are of keels at different depths? Or is it best to just motor if I need a shallow draft?

Many thanks

Andy

As someone who seems to make a habit of running aground under sail and motor, I would agree that half a keel is OK to navigate with in most situations. Much less than that and you begin to lose control - if you've ever tried a Laser with no daggerboard you will have a good idea of a 325 with the keel up, except that the results are rather more expensive, hence the popularity of bow thrusters. I wouldn't try sailing at any angle of heel with anything less than full keel though, and I would try always to lift and lower it when the boat is upright as recommended in the owner's manual to minimise stress on the sides of the keel box.

The lights on the indicator should be equally spaced, so half lights is half up. From memory the Walton Backwaters are soft enough to find out an accurate measurement by empirical observation though! It's a personal thing but on the rare occasion I got my lights to work I never fully trusted them, and swear by my Mk1 bungee cord which has fewer parts to go wrong, but then I sail in places where the bottom is harder.

Good luck!

Peter

Its great that I can have this level of flexibility with my draft. I can see it being routine to motor out if its a low tide and then keel up and sails out once I am in deeper water. I hadn't really considered pressure on the keel, so thank you for mentioning that. I should probably go read the manual!

I also have had a fair share of running aground. I have done it when I had a motorboat (partly not my fault as the depth gauge wasnt configured correctly). Then I did it with my previous Hunter boat, but she just stood on the keels and I put the kettle on. I am hoping this doesnt happen to me anymore, but at least I can raise the keel and get off if I need to.