One of the many advantages of a metal sailboat is that the keel will almost certainly be of the “envelope” type, and your ballast will be fully enclosed and protected within the hull. Needless to say, there are no keel bolts to worry about.

If you’re building upright, you may plate the keel first. We recommend that you install a percentage of the ballast during the construction of the keel. It’s much easier to install a fair proportion of the ballast in the keel now, while you simply have to lift it into the partially plated keel. This is a good time to remind you that the sides and bottom of the keel form part of the ballast. Remember to deduct the weight of the keel structure from the overall recommended ballast before proceeding further. In our designs, we recommend you install 75 percent of the total ballast (including the weight of the keel structure) before launching. The remaining 25 percent can be installed as trim ballast after preliminary sailing trials are completed.

   You can use inexpensive plywood or hardboard to make patterns for the sides of the keel. The leading and trailing edges, and the keel webs, will already be installed. It will depend on the actual type and design of your keel as to whether you can plate the sides in one piece. In a deep keel, you may have a problem reaching down far enough to weld the lower ends of the webs and the inside side-to-bottom intersection. In this case you may prefer to have a longitudinal join, say 12 inches (305 mm) above the bottom of the keel, or some other suitable distance. On occasion, you may find it necessary to cut slots in the keel side plating so you can plug-weld through to the webs. Your plans should give you some guidance in these areas. If you’re building the hull inverted, you’ll follow similar procedures for building the keel, but you’ll undertake this work after the other parts of the hull are fully plated.