I'm curious. Are you able to crank down your keel at all while on the trailer? Mine sits like yours looks in the picture. The keel is snug with the trailer bracket. I have a factory trailer.
Thanks
Russ
1976 Catalina 22 Cleaning and Refurbishing to Sail
- Thread starter C22-Daydreamer
- Start date
Thanks
Russ
Yes it is resting on the rubber. I can crank it up about 3 or 4 inches then the weight of the keel is pulling down on the cable. It should be resting on the rubber guide on trailer. It's not good for the cable to have the weight of the keel stressing the cable when on the trailer. I crank it up just tight enough so that the weight is on the trailer but the cable isn't slack. When cranking up in the water to put the boat back on the trailer I make sure the cable doesn't get tangled and is evenly rolled back on the winch.
I guess what I'm trying to say is when I'm done sailing, I crank the keel up completely. Once I get her loaded on the trailer, there is no room to crank down the keel. It's snug in the rubber guide.
I was wondering if this was normal. The trailer is original. The bunks are welded and not adjustable. I was wondering if I should raise the bunk height a couple of inches.
Russ
I was wondering if this was normal. The trailer is original. The bunks are welded and not adjustable. I was wondering if I should raise the bunk height a couple of inches.
Russ
I had the same issue in the past. I slept better after I raised the bunks a little. No more than necessary though, every inch of height makes launching that much harder. Since yours are welded, maybe you could add a layer of 3/4" PT plywood to the bunks and re-wrap them?
It's not an issue if the boat's weight is not resting on the keel, but that could be hard to determine.
It's not an issue if the boat's weight is not resting on the keel, but that could be hard to determine.
There probably should be a little slack between the keel and the rubber when the winch is cranked all the way up. Like @Gene Neill said you don't want the weight of the boat resting on the keel. Raising it up a half an inch would probably be enough. I have about 2.5 to 3 inches of gap if I crank the winch up tight on mine. If you had it cranked up tight to the hull and hit a nasty chuck hole going down the road and the keel is resting on the trailer you could possibly damage the keel pocket. So in your case I would want to have some gap between the rubber and the keel if the winch is cranked all the way up. You could then lower the keel down to rest on the trailer and everything would be a bit more safe from damage while traveling.
I had the same issue - my keel was tight against the hull, and I couldn't tell just how much weight (if any) was on the keel pocket - that made me nervous.
I modified my trailer a bit, raising the bunks on pads made of Starboard. I padded the center bunk supports about 1" and the rears maybe 1-1/4"; that was enough to provide a little clearance. I haven't launched since that change, but don't expect it to make much difference - for us, the limiting factor is always getting the bow to float up fully onto the trailer when recovering. The rear of the bunks are usually plenty low in the water - so I'm hopeful that raising the rear supports won't hamper anything.
I modified my trailer a bit, raising the bunks on pads made of Starboard. I padded the center bunk supports about 1" and the rears maybe 1-1/4"; that was enough to provide a little clearance. I haven't launched since that change, but don't expect it to make much difference - for us, the limiting factor is always getting the bow to float up fully onto the trailer when recovering. The rear of the bunks are usually plenty low in the water - so I'm hopeful that raising the rear supports won't hamper anything.