Water ballast with lifting keel

[Sailor182]

It's my understanding that the magreger 26 has 300# of permanent ballast inside the hull and I was just curious if you designed the boat as to have the 300# on a retracting keel would it reduce heel?

[Talbot]

If the weight was in the keel rather than in the hull would it reduce heel.

Yes

And the further away from the hull, the more effective it is. But this does not really work very well with a lifting keel as you will have different stability for different lift positions. Furthermore, the weight spread over the whole hull will need significantly different (and less) hull strength, than suspending it from a keel.

It is all about levers - the longer the lever, the more effective the end result. In this case, the keel length is the lever.

[GordMay]

MacGregor Sailboats have a lot of information on their website, including:

➥ WATER BALLAST

➥ MacGregor Sailboats - MacGregor 26 Trailerable Sailboats