Yet another keel bolt lock question..

[Lisa Woodburn]

Hi all,Reading the threads here, there have been numerous mentions of how the Cat 22 can sink if the keel isn't locked down and it swings up through the hull in a knockdown. It's also been mentioned how the keel bolt works on a "friction principle" (I forget the exact terminology) in case of running upon a rock, etc.I hate to admit, but about 30% of the time I forget to unlock (or forget to have my crew unlock) the keelbolt when cranking it up to anchor or head into the dock. I/we haven't noticed any resistance when it's not unlocked before cranking it up, and I wonder if this is the norm from the "friction principle", or if I haven't locked it in tight enough in case of a knockdown... I usually just turn it until it feels tight, but don't "wrench" it in, so to say.....Thanks in advance for any advice!Lis"Cozin"

 

[CHARLIE]

Damage to keel from lockblot

Lis, When I bought my 22 last fall, I knew that the keel needed work. The pivot hole was all worn out for one thing. The other was that the previous owner also had forgotten to release the lock before raising the keel. I had a "groove" worn into the cast iron keel about a half inch wide, about a quarter inch deep along the arc of the swing. I brought the 600 pound keel to a local machine shop and they sandblasted to bare metal, made a new stainless bushing for the pivot pin and filled the groove with weld. I then faired and refinished the keel (added the Catalina Direct keel clunk pads, new pin and mounts - well worth it) She sails and points well and there is no clunking going on when tacking. I also refinished the bottom while the keel was out (some blister repairs, apoxy barrier coat and bottom paint) Like I said, its a lot of work but well worth it if you plan on keeping the baot.Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

[Aldo]

My Keel Bolt Thoughts

Lisa: When my keel is in the up position, I have to back-out the locking screw 25 half-turns, before lowering it. When it is in the down position, I have to turn it in only 6 half-turns. What this means to me is that the keel is a little wider when it is down, than when it is up. With this in mind, when one of your crew cranks the keel up with the locking bolt still against the keel it will loosen as they crank it up. The problem that I see is that this is putting extra stress on the keel winch cable. I've read on this fourm about many cables breaking. I replaced mine one time because I had a broken strand, but have never had a failure of a cable. I do think having an extra cable is a good idea, and sometime your boat is lifted out of the water you should run the keel down and look at the cable it to see if it has broken strands. Another failure that I guess could happen is the cable could be pulled out of the clevis on the end, because of the extra stress put onto it by the locking bolt not being loosened. What I recommend that you do is put a note onto the keel winch handle to remind you or whoever is cranking it up to unlock it first, until it becomes automatic and a habit. To make the locking bolt quicker to wind in and out, take it out and center the cross rod, then wrap rigging tape around each side of the rod near the bolt, so that half of the rod sticks out from each side of the bolt. I find that this makes it a lot quicker to wind in and out. (That is also why I refer to the amount that I wind the bolt in and out in half-turns). I wrote the number of turns with the keel up, and down, onto the lip under the cover to the compartment for the keel locking bolt, so that I always know how much to unwind it in either the up or down position, before using the winch. Of course, put lots of a really sticky grease onto the bolt before putting it back into the nut. The type of grease that I use comes in a stick and is used for greasing car doors. This keeps water from coming into the compartment. One more comment, for where we sail our boat, the swing keel is simply wonderful, and I really mean it.  Aldo