Keel

On boats and ships, the keel is either of two parts: a structural

element that sometimes resembles a fin and protrudes below a boat
along the central line, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts
overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the
construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding
traditions the construction is dated from this event. Only the ship's
launching is considered more significant in its creation.

The word can also be used as a synecdoche to refer to a complete

boat, such as a keelboat.

Contents
History
Structural keels
Hydrodynamic keels
Non-sailing keels
Sailboat keels
Etymology
See also
Notes 1 – mainsail 2 – staysail 3 – Spinnaker
Bibliography 4 – hull 5 – keel 6 – rudder 7 – skeg
8 – spar 9 – Spreader 10 – Shroud
11 – sheet 12 – boom 13 - spar

History 14 – Spinnaker pole 15 – Backstay

16 – Forestay 17 – boom vang
The adjustable centerboard keel traces its roots to the medieval
Chinese Song dynasty. Many Song Chinese junk ships had a
ballasted and bilge keel that consisted of wooden beams bound together with iron hoops.
Maritime technology and the technological know-how allowed Song dynasty ships to be used
in naval warfare between the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin dynasty, and the
Mongols.[1][2][3]

Structural keels
A structural keel is the bottom-most structural member around which the hull of a ship is
built. The keel runs along the centerline of the ship, from the bow to the stern. The keel is
often the first part of a ship's hull to be constructed, and laying the keel, or placing the keel in
the cradle in which the ship will be built may mark the start time of its construction. Large,
modern ships are now often built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather Sailing yacht with a fin keel
than being built around a single keel, so shipbuilding process commences with cutting the first
sheet of steel.
 The most common
type of keel is the
"flat plate keel", and
this is fitted in the
majority of ocean-
going ships and
other vessels. A
form of keel found
The initials of Susan Ford Bales
on smaller vessels is
being welded into the keel of the
the "bar keel",
aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford
which may be fitted (CVN 78) during a keel laying and
in trawlers, tugs, authentication ceremony atNorthrop
Keel laid for the USS United States in drydock and smaller ferries. Grumman Shipbuildingin Newport
Where grounding is News.
possible, this type of
keel is suitable with its massive scantlings, but there is always a problem of the
increased draft with no additional cargo capacity. If a double bottom is fitted, the keel is almost inevitably of the flat plate type, bar
keels often being associated with open floors, where the plate keel may also be fitted.

Duct keels are provided in the bottom of some vessels. These run from the forward engine room bulkhead to the collision bulkhead
and are utilized to carry the double bottom piping. The piping is then accessible when car
go is loaded.

Hydrodynamic keels

Non-sailing keels
The keel surface on the bottom of the hull gives the ship greater directional control and
stability. In non-sailing hulls, the keel helps the hull to move forward, rather than
slipping to the side. In traditional boat building, this is provided by the structural keel,
which projects from the bottom of the hull along most or all of its length. In modern
construction, the bar keel or flat-plate keel performs the same function. There are many
types of fixed keels, including full keels, long keels, fin keels, winged keels, bulb keels,
and bilge keels among other designs. Deep-draft ships will typically have a flat bottom
and employ only bilge keels, both to aid directional control and to damp rolling motions A hydrodynamic keel creates lift
that minimizes sideways motion,
underway.
Sailboat keels
In sailboats, keels use the forward motion of the boat to generate lift to counteract the
leeward force of the wind. The rudimentary purpose of the keel is to convert the sideways
motion of the wind when it is abeam into forward motion. A secondary purpose of the keel is
to provide ballast. Keels are different from centreboards and other types of foils in that keels
are made of heavy materials to provide ballast to stabilize the boat. Keels may be fixed, or
non-movable, or they may retract to allow sailing in shallower waters. Retracting keels may
pivot (a swing keel) or slide upwards to retract, and are usually retracted with a winch due to
the weight of the ballast. Since the keel provides far more stability when lowered than when
retracted (due to the greater moment arm involved), the amount of sail carried is generally
reduced when sailing with the keel retracted.
Lateral resistance effect of a
sailing keel
Types of non-fixed keels include swing keels andcanting keels. Canting keels can be found on
racing yachts, such as those competing in the Volvo Ocean Race. They provide considerably
more righting moment as the keel moves out to the windward-side of the boat while using less
weight. The horizontal distance from the weight to the pivot is increased, which generates a
larger righting moment.

Etymology
The word "keel" comes from Old English cēol, Old Norse kjóll, = "ship" or "keel". It has the
distinction of being regarded by some scholars as the very first word in the English language Righting effect of a keel,
recorded in writing, having been recorded by Gildas in his 6th century Latin work De Excidio where A is the center of
buoyancy and G is the
et Conquestu Britanniae, under the spelling cyulae (he was referring to the three ships that the
centre of gravity
Saxons first arrived in).[4][5]
(hypothetical example).

Carina is the Latin word for "keel" and is the origin of the term careen (to clean a keel and the
hull in general, often by rolling the ship on its side). An example of this use is Careening
Cove, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, where careening was carried out in early colonial days.

See also
Coin ceremony
Kelson
False keel
Daggerboard
Leeboard
Bilgeboard
Bruce foil
Keelhauling – an archaic maritime punishment

Notes
1. Teng, Jimmy (2014). Musket, Map and Money:: How Military T
echnology Shaped Geopolitics and Economics. Walter
de Gruyter. p. 117. ISBN 978-8376560588.
2. Clancey, Gregory K.; Loy, Hui-chieh (2002). Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, e
Tchnology and
Medicine. World Scientific Publishing (published July 24, 2002). p. 498. ISBN 978-9971692599.
3. Deng, Gang (1999). Maritime Sector, Institutions, and Sea Powerof Premodern China. Praeger. p. 9. ISBN 978-
0313307126.
4. "Gildas, The Ruin of Britain &c. (1899). pp. 4–252. The Ruin of Britain"(http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/gildas_02_ru
in_of_britain.htm).
5. G. W. Whittaker (1970). Collected Essays (https://books.google.com/books?id=P94dqHC91DMC)
. Ayer Publishing.
p. 44. ISBN 0-8369-1636-0.

Bibliography
Rousmaniere, John, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, Simon & Schuster, 1999
Chapman Book of Piloting(various contributors), Hearst Corporation, 1999
Herreshoff, Halsey (consulting editor),The Sailor’s Handbook, Little Brown and Company
Seidman, David, The Complete Sailor, International Marine, 1995
Jobson, Gary, Sailing Fundamentals, Simon & Schuster, 1987

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