Ron Rodgers wrote that the keel strip may not be necessary (please excuse me, the browser I'm using doesn't copy and paste) Ron, my observations have convinced me that this feature may one day save your boat. Frequently I'll see boats in the Pt. Townsend boatyard with the consequences of meeting our PNW rocks. Besides the usual damage to unprotected props and rudders there are normally always the chunks of GRP removed from the keel. Once the glass is abraded the rocks get ahold of the boat and it sits until the tide goes out and then it falls over. I saw a 40' Nordhavn a few weeks ago with damage that I thought was caused by this situation. There wasn't anybody to ask, but judging from the damage to the keel, and active fin, and the watermarks high on the topsides I thought this may have been the situation. The boat's name was Hayden Bay if I recall. Bruce Kessler has had some bad luck, if my information is correct, losing the first Zipolte on the AK rocks. And I think he wanted to be as prepared as he could. Your right, we don't need to reinvent the wheel, the Nordhavn guys should have the answers. But more information allows us to make better choices Regards, John Crowley