Hi Catalina 22 Swing Keel owners
We are concerned about something that happened with our swing keel...
Our swing-keel 22 footer stays in the water on a mooring in the summer. At the end of the season we take it out for the winter.
The boat is floated onto a yard trailer, and to support her at the correct height we place short wooden planks under the hull and at the bow. These are clamped onto the trailer on each side of the keel before the boat is floated onto the trailer. The trailer is then gently and slowly pulled out the water up a gentle incline concrete ramp, and the trailer and boat are placed in a parking bay about 20 meters from the ramp, in the boat yard for the winter.
Last summer we unfortunately discovered too late that we had missed two of the wooden blocks on each side, meaning that the boat was not lifted clear of the keel (keel in up position of course) when it came out of the water.
Instead she rested directly on the swing keel itself as she was taken out the water, as well as on the starboard wooden blocks and blocks at the bow. She was not touching the port wooden block (which we only discovered later), so the swing keep took up a third of the weight of the boat.
You can see this in the photo -- there is a clear gap between the boat and the blocks on the port side by the yellow arrow, ie: not touching those blocks & resting on the swing keel.
We only noticed this many months later after returning to the boat last weekend to clean and anti-foul her in preparation for the summer. We also noticed that the keel did not appear vertical, but rather at an angle. See second yellow line on the photo.
We immediately jacked up the boat and placed the missing blocks on both the port and starboard side, taking the weight off the keel. We also then jacked up the back of the keel and let it down again, and it then settled in a more vertical position. See the picture labelled "after".
There is no visible evidence of any damage to the keel hinge or boat, apart from that the keel was not vertical. The boat is from the late 1970s (1978 we think), however the keel was removed and the entire front hinge was professionally renovated and refitted about seven years ago by a local boatyard.
Our question -- Has anyone had experience of their swing-keel 22 footer resting directly on the keel itself when out of the water, did this cause any concern or damage, and is there any way we can check whether everything is ok?
(see photos)
Thank you everyone!
Regards
Stirling
We are concerned about something that happened with our swing keel...
Our swing-keel 22 footer stays in the water on a mooring in the summer. At the end of the season we take it out for the winter.
The boat is floated onto a yard trailer, and to support her at the correct height we place short wooden planks under the hull and at the bow. These are clamped onto the trailer on each side of the keel before the boat is floated onto the trailer. The trailer is then gently and slowly pulled out the water up a gentle incline concrete ramp, and the trailer and boat are placed in a parking bay about 20 meters from the ramp, in the boat yard for the winter.
Last summer we unfortunately discovered too late that we had missed two of the wooden blocks on each side, meaning that the boat was not lifted clear of the keel (keel in up position of course) when it came out of the water.
Instead she rested directly on the swing keel itself as she was taken out the water, as well as on the starboard wooden blocks and blocks at the bow. She was not touching the port wooden block (which we only discovered later), so the swing keep took up a third of the weight of the boat.
You can see this in the photo -- there is a clear gap between the boat and the blocks on the port side by the yellow arrow, ie: not touching those blocks & resting on the swing keel.
We only noticed this many months later after returning to the boat last weekend to clean and anti-foul her in preparation for the summer. We also noticed that the keel did not appear vertical, but rather at an angle. See second yellow line on the photo.
We immediately jacked up the boat and placed the missing blocks on both the port and starboard side, taking the weight off the keel. We also then jacked up the back of the keel and let it down again, and it then settled in a more vertical position. See the picture labelled "after".
There is no visible evidence of any damage to the keel hinge or boat, apart from that the keel was not vertical. The boat is from the late 1970s (1978 we think), however the keel was removed and the entire front hinge was professionally renovated and refitted about seven years ago by a local boatyard.
Our question -- Has anyone had experience of their swing-keel 22 footer resting directly on the keel itself when out of the water, did this cause any concern or damage, and is there any way we can check whether everything is ok?
(see photos)
Thank you everyone!
Regards
Stirling
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