- Dec 1, 2013
- 76
I dropped the keel out of our H22 as it needs another new bushing. Except this time I'm not going to put in a new bushing. I decided the main problem is that little 1/2" pin has too much load on it and not enough bearing area. I'm going to bore the old bushing to 3/4", drill the brackets and put a new 316 stainless 3/4" pin in it.
The other problem is that the keel has been used for a mechanical depth sounder too many times. Coming into a shallow anchorage in a bay or cove, invariably the depth sounder will be showing 6 feet and the keel still hits a rock or something with a big thud. That's when you know that you should probably swing the keel up, drop anchor right there and not go in any closer. If the sound of the keel contact is sort of sandpaper like, then she's sand bottom and you can swing it up and glide in right up to shore. If it's smooth and just sort of drags, then its muck bottom and probably anchor out a bit so as not to foul the bottom of the boat.
Love my swing keel
But this is what it does to it over time on the rocks and gravel bottom:
Since using the centerboard for mechanical depth sounding is probably not going to stop any time soon with the type of anchorages we go into, I decided to fix this too. I'll fix the separation and glass it. But then I'm going to form up a 24" long leading edge wear plate from 050 316 stainless and screw it to the tip of the keel leading edge.
The other problem is that the keel has been used for a mechanical depth sounder too many times. Coming into a shallow anchorage in a bay or cove, invariably the depth sounder will be showing 6 feet and the keel still hits a rock or something with a big thud. That's when you know that you should probably swing the keel up, drop anchor right there and not go in any closer. If the sound of the keel contact is sort of sandpaper like, then she's sand bottom and you can swing it up and glide in right up to shore. If it's smooth and just sort of drags, then its muck bottom and probably anchor out a bit so as not to foul the bottom of the boat.
Love my swing keel
But this is what it does to it over time on the rocks and gravel bottom:
Since using the centerboard for mechanical depth sounding is probably not going to stop any time soon with the type of anchorages we go into, I decided to fix this too. I'll fix the separation and glass it. But then I'm going to form up a 24" long leading edge wear plate from 050 316 stainless and screw it to the tip of the keel leading edge.