A keel is a large beam around which the hull of a ship is built. The keel runs in the middle of the ship, from the bow to the stern. The word keel is also sometimes used to refer to a rigid, flat piece of material anchored to the lowest part of the hull and used to give the ship greater control and stability. Large keels are common in sailboats, where they provide lateral resistance in the water to convert lateral force from the sails into forward motion of the boat. Keels are different from centerboards in that keels are often fixed (though some are retractable) and are made of heavy materials to provide ballast to stabilize the boat.

Carina is the Latin word for keel and is the origin of the term careen (to clean a keel and the hull in general).

See also

• Leeboard,
• Bruce foil.
• Winged keel provided even greater control and stability for a yacht.

• Careening Cove is a suburb of Sydney, Australia where careening was carried out in the early days of the colony.

Disambiguation

• A keel is also a flat-bottomed boat, particularly the ones used on the rivers Tyne and Wear.
• The actor who played Clayton Farlow in the TV series Dallas (1978-1991) was Howard Keel (1919-2004).
• There was also a heavy-metal band named Keel in the 1980s.
• In bird anatomy, the keel is a perpendicular extension of the breastbon to which wing muscles anchor, making possible powered flight.