INVESTIGATOR 563

Has anyone else seen this boat or have any idea where it came from?

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/noarlung ... 1098114934

Looks like an Investigator deck stuck on a sonata hull maybe? Strange.

that not a investigator i know of it a copy of a copy of a copy

Looks like someone butchered the keel and converted to a drop keel. Crazy idea, as you destroy the key advantage of the original design.

Interesting find Greg. It is definitely an Investigator stern . Guessing here for the fun of it. Maybe it was a 563 wrecked on rocks or possibly after a road accident on the trailer.

I'm amazed what constitutes a write off these days. Relative had their Ford Focus involved in a rear shunt . Damage was hardly noticeable but the car was only valued at 7k ...so write off.

I would suggest any keel damage to a 563 at their current value would constitute a write off , so maybe the converter picked up a wreck for a song and made a drop keep version. That would explain what appears to be a different profile of the forefoot. I would further suggest rebuilding as a flat bottom would be simpler than attempting to repair / reattach a badly damaged long keel. Let's hope the new owner joins the forum so we can get a performance comparison.

You would think it would not be sensible to buy a perfectly good 563 and then convert it to a drop keeler when there are so many available. But then some people like a challenge.

I'll stick with my long keel thanks , even if I did have to push it off a sandbar on Australia Day

Yara50 wrote:Looks like someone butchered the keel and converted to a drop keel. Crazy idea, as you destroy the key advantage of the original design.

It would probably get up and boogie though

I messaged the owner and asked them about the boat -

"Hi, the original sail number is 98 and the keel is different because i believe that they had installed an aftermarket drop keel"

I guess it would be a faster boat like that but it really destroys the space inside.

I wonder would it be faster? There is a lot of ballast below water line in a standard 563. So you can keep more canvas up longer theoretically . Unless that's a very heavy drop keel you would be reefing down earlier and probably a lot more often . Also the boat would be more tender generally I would guess. Certainly not as relaxing to sail.

But meh, to each his own.