Agree with everything about the Kraken design. Well done!

This man is a very good salesman.

I really enjoyed seeing this evolution of an integrated keel. It's a solid idea and the focus on safety is to be commended. We just crawled around a Cal28 that has an integrated keel - but this is really advancing the concept.

Island packed

There's a KZfaq couple: Expedition Evans, who bought a Beneteau 49 as salvage ($25k). It had had a keel strike, bolts still in good shape. It appears that the entire frame shifted inside the hull. In their first videos they pulled up the sole (cabin deck) revealing the 'floor' (structure) It looks like it was mastic-glued to the hull. The Evans scraped whatever was on the structure - it appeared to me to be GRP that scraped off in layers. I've built and repaired kayaks, even marginally applied epoxy and glass never separate in layers. They glass/epoxy gusseted the whole thing which I think makes it the only Beneteau safe for blue water cruising. I occasionally do a day charter in a Beneteau, after seeing the Evan's boat I've vowed never to cruise in a Beneteau. Keels probably need a crush zone to absorb a strike.

On my Coronado30 we removed the floor area over the lead keel installed 3 full widht stringers wrapped in 7 layers of matting and fibreglass ed onto the hull ,stiffened the hull totally no flexing of anything and made it a better boat for bluewater sailing.

True words! Zero keel! Safety first the keel and the boat is one whole piece

I agree that blade hung rudders are vulnerable but am less convinced bolt on keels are unworkable. Any machine needs maintenance. Even a grounded keel does necessarily mean catastrophic failure, although I don't recommend it. Your zero keel design looks good and I wish you well. Very safe as you say and the extra length will make her track better, reducing wear.

As a master all ships with also sailing done,i totally agree with this,wise and experienced advice.

Another solution is to put the ballast inside the boat and use a centerboard that can swing up if it strikes something.

shit man, the 1968 camper and nicolson 38 ft. ketch i restored and lived aboard at BYC downtown CORPUS CHRISTI TX. is a CLASSIC BOAT, my daily drivers were 1973 LOTUS EUROPA AND 1976 STINGRAY, also stunning classics, restored and lived aboard and raced 1986 german frers 38 ft. club racer sloop, 9 ft. draft fin keel, racing, cruising drinkin bourbon smokin ganja every day, KEEL STAYED ON

Yes, I want a safety-first blue water sailboat. That's why I dream of buying a Garcia Exploration. You can sail with that lady to the Poles... literally. Zero keel you say, I say the centerboard the Garcia has. You lift the centerboar and you can beach the vessel. Running downwind full Gennaker? lift the centerboard and no fears of tripping over the keel. Really stormy weather with big waves? lift the centerboard again and you reduce the chance of capsizing by being hit on the beam by a breaking wave. Granted you will lose performance because the ballast is at the bottom of the hull and not the bottom of the keel, but this gentleman is talking about security, right? not about winning the regatta.

So a full length keel built in steel is adequate for a bit of reef grinding?

Just put out a video on keel styles and was directed to this video in the comments. We have an old 1968 Morgan 45 with a long keel. It’s worked great for our pace of cruising and was comfortable on our last transatlantic passage.

Alubat comes to mind as a. Production Boat for world Sailing.

Dear Dick, let’s see more of your wonderful sailing yachts, if you don’t do the shows, can we see a customer videos of the krakens on the seas,if I had the money and more time of life, I would have one ,custom built and finished to your excellent demands.blue water for me ,on my own kraken,back to my former future when I was a teenager. Dream come true.

..... I have been beating this drum for a while now - and getting a fair bit of hate male from Beneteau owners... :)

Oh my gosh! I just noticed the “Trade Bark” on the PFD in the introduction. Hahaha hahaha

I have a Contest 32cs which is a zero keel sailboat form 1979.

Garcia have solved all of the issues discussed here and with a more robust hull. Aluminium with a swing keel and protected twin ruders. If this beast was built in aluminium and had inboom furling I'd be interested

Well done bringing this up . I totally agree and that’s why I chose my Albin Vega she has both a Skeg hung rudder and 3/14 full integral keel .

The name zero keel implies no keel at all, not a good name.

How about swing keels? Ovni, Feeling. Southerly etc?

Rustler yachts have a "zero keel" too, even if they call it "encapsulated lead keel". (And they are much more classic than this one).

Beautiful boat a classic in need of classic keeling. Finding a way to get a stem between the mast and forestay will greatly improve the performance of the boat.

I guess he's never heard of Island Packet.

That is a very efficient looking keel!

💯💯💯💯

Glad the issue of production yachts with bolt on keels and unprotected rudders is being addressed. Undoubtedly, an unpopular subject as most yachts have them. I wouldn't set sail in one hopping along the coast, let alone crossing an ocean. In my opinion, encapsulated keels are the only way to go, preferably long keel for better sea motion.

In 1975 we were building Grampian 34s and Classic 31s and Grampian 7.9s all with integral keels. This is not a new idea. All were lead keels that were imbedded into the keel chamber that was about 1" of glass fibre.

Mine is a 1981 Kings Legend 41. And she has a one part Hull design with a relatively short keel and a skeg hung Rudder . So there are already boats of this Type

I'm guessing, that modified full-keel was already taken?

Practical common sense, the man knows what he is talking about and it ain't something anyone can argue against..

Is there a "zero" chance of this keel falling off? No, it's non-zero. More righting moment means more stress at the join whether that join is between materials or the same material. A steel boat with a fin keel is integral but the hull/keel joint is still a vulnerable line. this designs just means that the keel is less likely to fall off but if it does it takes a bigger chunk of boat with it. There's a whale that can break that keel. His point is good about joining materials of different elasticity, but that's why you build as rigid a keel grid as you can and spread the transitional area. It may well be a nice design (depending on how well it is implemented) but 25% premium on the whole boat? Nope, not seeing that.

I was going to complain "that's no classic" However,he talks a lot of sense,shame it's way out of my price range

Possible add hard chines to lessen the pressure on the rudder...less slip in the forward and mid section of hull.

EDIT: Im playing devils advocate here - I totally get the point in the integral keel, and strongly believe its a significant safety feature.. one that don't actually push the purchase price of the Kraken boats above comparable leve bluewater boats.. so with that the keel should be a heavy weight in the overall math when picking the boat you are going to trust around the world a couple laps. Orignal comment. Dick I totally agree - integral keels are a great concept for bluewater sailing. But doing the math. we are quoting roughly 40years of reported incidents. call it 100 in 40 years. somewhere I did see a number saying there might be 50,000 fairly serious bluewater sailors in the world. I have no idea if that is an accurate number, but for kicks lets say it is. that would then suggest that the last 50 years we have seen roughly 2,000,000 bluewater sailing years.(ROUGHY not accurate) divide by 100 and you got 20,000 years a bluewater sailer must sail to experience a keel-loss event. this is absolutely not a in-significant number, its saying roughly 2 of these events per year. Question is, could the same investment of money do more to safeguard a family, outstanding nav equipment, better training, etc etc etc. Im not sure, but looking at the numbers I still feel somewhat comfortable sailing most boats across the atlantic (as long as they are otherwise suitable) *lets also assume that most of these 100 reports probably are some of the worst keel designs out there. most of use pick boats with skeg rudders if possible etc.. easily reducing the exposure to even a fraction of the 1/20,000 year number. and buying a boat with a terrible keel mounting scheme would probably make the exposure a 1/1000 maybe.. hard to say.. just guessing here.. its all numbers, but a fairly well build modern cruising boat is likely to do well and have a exposure probably in the 1/50,000 or better range. considering the crappers out there are raking up the exposure points. ;-) Like i said, I really do love the integral keel.. but there are so incredible many other awesome features of the Kraken boats which is why I am lusting for a Kraken, more than the keel design. the integral keel is one more awesome detail, but I would not dismiss the kraken if it had a responsibly designed bolt-on keel. its still a fantastic bluewater cruiser, and frankly I would love to see it with a swing-keel.. but thats just me. Rant over.

He answers his own question of why would you sail around the world on a production boat. Cost.

Island Packet are still making integral keels. No need to start a company.

Question: I like the concept and it seems workable. However, with great advantage comes an equal disadvantage. What are the disadvantages of a Zero-keel?

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what the construction of this keel is from the information provided? No drawings, cut-a-aways, animations or partially constructed boats to explain the concept? If all full keels were built by putting ballast inside a fibreglass keel, then what have they done differently to get lead or steel into the bulb?

despite the negative comments, he's right not sure how many designs are around that have encapsulated lead keels are around, but my guess is you can count them on one hand and no swing keels dont cut it my own boat is 36'5" long ketch rigged and has encapsulated lead, it was built over 40 years ago, shes a bluewater boat I think the phrase goes, 'they dont make em like that anymore', well almost

Zero Keel, nice sales pitch

Old concept. USA has build so many....I could never stop naming them.....hell my 79 Endeavor had one...

Great concept, but a swing keel swings back when hitting something. Maybe even better.

Steel or Alloy yacht fixes all those problems ?

Interesting video. But I am skeptical that this "zero keel" is any better than the bolt-on type. Especially with its massive bulb on the bottom. Just like the keel bolts or the floors they attach to, the relatively tight turn at the keel/hull joint can fail after thousands of flex cycles. This is because, as the boat heels, the joint distorts under the bending loads due to elasticity. And because this joint is at such a sharp angle, this joint will bear the brunt of this distortion. This may be OK over the first few hundred thousand cycles, but GRP has been known to fatigue just like metal. The first sign of trouble would be that the keel will seem a bit wobbly, as the boat heels. This could be followed by a lot of little leaks in the joint area. The keel may simply flop over rather than break off, like a dog's ear flops over. But then it will wobbly even more, opening more unpatchable leaks. The bolt--on keel may actually be better, if it had a solid, radioused flange on top and well designed floors inside the boat to bolt it to. But such an arrangement would subtract from how much ballast could be in the bulb, so the CG of the keel would be somewhat higher. It is probably best to skip the bulb idea, for a boat which will sail in remote areas, and put up with the lower performance. As for the integral keel design, I suggest adding a considerable radius to the keel--hull joint. This would go a long way toward reducing stress concentrations and would be easier to lay up anyway. I still think the bulb should go.

My Compass H28 had an integral keel.

The kraken keel is superb(lovely boat too) yet seems for big pockets. I would like a solution for smaller pockets but think the latest standards do focus more on the keel interface yet ultimately it comes back to inspection, inspection, inspection and a willingness by the owner to take the issue seriously. Insurance could help by insisting on stricter inspection intervals but then if we are not careful we would be moving pleasure boating into the realms of a general aviation safety framework and scare people away with costly bureaucracy. Unfortunately and on balance I think we need to reserve the right to be stupid, therefore it has to remain a case of buyer beware and free market choice but ideally,... an informed one!

Well, my 40 yr old Brewer Aloha 28 has the same build sans Kevlar. So what is new, the Kevlar? My wife wanted safety for the offspring given my skinny water touch navigation style, so a steel long keel was the next step. Have nailed rocks and stone docks, barely chipped the epoxy. 1/2 plate filled with steel is strong! Lots of containers out there lurking, we saw a section of old wharf off NY harbour once 30 years ago. Scary.

Picked up a Kelly Peterson 41 for 7500. Fixed it. Sailed it 30,000 miles. The only problems I had were self induced. Usually lack of sleep. If you run a boat aground...go buy a farm.

Centreboard?

I absolutely like the boat and all the incorporated ideas ... but ... there is always a but ... I don't even own 100k ... at least I won't drown then ...

means back to the roots

Good proven design which has been a round for a long, long time.. dumb name..

An integral french keel a blade keel system relative to the sails a wing keel and blade. Accurate keeling is safer and faster keeling.

He has a point but my word is he annoying

I believe more in retractable keepls. Even if hit they are more floating and will not make a bottomless boat.

I think Island Packet makes their keels part of the hull with internal ballast.

I know nothing of sailing. I just like to watch videos. But the shoe analogy is persuasive as well as the other sensible points made. Even putting all that aside aren't these boats so very nice looking? I guess "sexy" even. They just have the look of speed and confidence.

I wonder if the zero keel could ever break/torn off

Don't forget the Contessa 32!!!

I wonder what the tensile strength of the laminate around the keel is compared to the tensile strength of bolts on bolt on keels? This has been done before, and integral keels have their problems also, at least if the ballast is iron. There are many safety aspects in sailing, keel bolts failing would come very low on my list.

I am leaning toward a steel boat with a steel keel .

I thought you retired to go sailing... but you started a new company.

Why on earth would I buy a boat from a guy that lies to me throughout his infomercial? As a pilot, I spent many a sleepless night wondering why the aircraft wings aren’t integral. That would fix the “damn wings are always falling off” problem.

3D sonar I feel would be a good plan...

Amel has integrated keels

Zero keel already on the market since 100 years, all the full keel sailboat like sea sprite, cap dory, alberg etc.. the keel are part of the hull all in one.

Very persuasive and reasonable.

Zero keel on a steel hull boat...possible. ?

Ha Ha. Isn't it great that there are always ways to re-invent the world! Just blank out all the steel and aluminum boats ever built and pretend that they don't exist. And of course the thousands of French "integral" designs with internal ballast and no keel at all are vaporware and never have ventured across oceans and to Antarctica. Why, most of their designers don't even speak the Kings English. Your keel design is only as strong as the internal grid structure that supports it, just like a bolt-on lead keel.

A steel or aluminium yacht has ballast inside the keel

This guy was a 'Duran Duran' fan in his youth.

I disagree with much of this. There are many ways to attache a keel. Many rely on bolts and glass. Having sailed for 30+ years ive run aground many times. Never lost a keel yet...

Island Packets have a integral keel

seen it all before

Or or.... And stay with me here... Don't Run Aground!

He is right and wrong .. no “ S spant” model boats or long keels are build anymore. Well that in the production boats So there are boats build with right keels like a Hutting. The best way to get is right is a multiHull and some dagger board although those can flip over too.

THis is why I will never part with my alberg 30

"You can't sail around the world in a production boat." Maybe look up the boat named "Apogee", the first hull of the Allied Seawind line. Solo circumnavigation from 1963-68. Or any of the hundreds of vessels since. But ok.

Bluewater boats INGRID. Made in the 70's in Seattle. I don't believe this keel type is unique.

just stay in your river professor!

Check Malö!

Just buy a X!

click bait. aren't lifting keels great too?

Rustler? Surely that’s encapsulated keel.

This seems out of place on this channel. Where's the Classic Boat?

My boat has an integrated keel, and was designed by Lyle Hess in 1975, these guys are doing nothing new, and production boats can and do sail around the world with no problem with the keel falling off, Webb Chiles just completed a circumnavigation in a Moore 24 at age 76, this so called "blue water sailboat" is a load of crap, Chiles also circumnavigated in a Catalina 27, and an Erickson 37, both with bolted on keels, any boat is a blue water sailboat handled by a seaman, and none are handled by a novice

That is why I use Catamarans.

I’m not at all convinced that just molding it all in one piece gives you “zero” breakage. Fiberglass, however continuous, is nowhere near as strong as hardened steal bolts. You still have a sort of post coming off a body at right angles to it, making that joint very vulnerable. The Devil is in the details of how the molding is done, how reinforced is the fiberglass, etc. A keel that’s bolted THRU both hull and keel on multiple, hardened long bolts of 6 ft or so, that are molded INTO the length of the keel and up thru the hull into its main structure, would seem the best solution, to transfer the shock to the keel up into the hull as a whole.

If your ship flips from losing its keel it's either not engineered well or it's crew error. Also losing a bolted keel is better then the bottom of your boat getting ripped off.

Not so sure what that guy.

blah blah blahblablah

Don’t tell me,,, show me how it’s built Dah!

10's of thousands of boats with bolt on keels have sailed millions of miles with no problems. The rate of failure is so low that the statistic is not even tracked. This guys opinion is that of a company executive, not a navel architect. His statements are designed to create fear and fulfill a marketing plan. I am not sure if I should laugh or feel sorry for him...so I am going to do both.

Nothing new about this. My Oysterman 22 was built in 1987. It has a full long keel with encapsulated

New boats, motors....no sails...no canvas....sales.%

DONT BUY FIN KEEL old fashion leverage

I agree