I probably use mine all the way down more often than not, but I do use it half way up and much of my future sailing will be in the Outer Banks and its rather shallow there... like your area. Like many others before me, I've had several strikes in both settings and it tends to gounge up the trailing edge. Per some's suggestions, The upper 15" has a radius'd trailing edge to match the D/B trunk. (57" of the 72" is the rated full extension). I also have a 2" portion radius'd half way down the D/B for half extending the D/B.Ixneigh wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:09 am Can’t wait for the performance assessment.it looks really nice! My suspicion is the square version will be better at the slower speed of these boats, relatively speaking.
Re fiberglass, it’s like any other skill. You’ll get better at it. The job appears nicely finished. Avoid bondo for anything but temp stuf though. You can make your own filler from the variety of things sold for such.
Re shorter dagger board: I hardly ever sail with mine all the way down. It knocks the speed quite a bit. If I mangled the bottom of mine by even a foot I’d just cut off the damage and fix it. I did however buy a 2nd board with boat purchase.
Re etc: the additional keel I added has made me stop thinking about board mods completely.
Ix
I also still have the old D/B shy 12" or so... I'll probably shape some foam and glass up the end and have it as a backup.