Fix for 216 Swing Keel Failure
Dckids - we had ours fail the first month we owned the boat. The keel is 500 lbs solid lead. The job to get it fixed is not easy as they have to remove the keel and hardware with a crane completely from the boat and re-drill new holes and shackles into the lead. Both dangerous for boat and person. We had ours hauled out so they could work on it. Good news it only took them a few days to do the job. They drew lines on the cover and the pin to indicate the max raising.
The implications of not getting it fixed are no big deal if you leave your boat in the water. At that point it just becomes a fixed keel boat. If you trailer it, I have heard of people cranking it up. Seems like at some point it would harm the keel and/or trailer to do this every wknd.
Who fixed it the first time and why does it keep breaking? If they did correclty and you didn't overcrank then the folks who did the work need to do a better job. They should've collaborated with Hunter b/c they had a fix kit and instructions for it. Otherwise call Hunter, then find a local Hunter dealer/yard. They covered my cost on labor b/c I was insistent about the design flaw. Overall they were cool and it worked out...
Good luck...
the cable on our 216 centerboard broke (again). we are in OBX NC. we tried raising it by getting it on the trailer but it did not work. any thoughts on who or how to get it fixed?
what is the danger/implication of leaving it down all the time?
thanks
dckids
