1984 Hunter 22 Swing Keel pivot pin

[Jim_3]

Longtime lurker, first time poster! Forgive me if I breach any protocols...

I've owned a 1984 H22 for several years, but had to take a few years off. Intend to put it back in the lake after an overhaul. It was a needy boat to begin with; I had to do a lot of work on it to get it in seaworthy shape... Among other things it's suffered from a weeping leak in the bilge area since I've owned it, and I've read many of the posts on the swing keel pin and bushing replacements, so decided, given the age of the boat to see what issues might be lurking there. Having no facilities to lift the boat I dropped the keel on the trailer axle which exposed the pivot hole. (in so doing I found the bilge leak; the 4 screws that secure the bracket through the hull were finger tight and someone buttered them up with a soft putty...lucky I didn't sink at the mooring).

Anyway I have included some pics of what I found with the keel pin. Elsewhere on forum I located some pics of the centerboard mechanism and drawings. Concerning is that the dimensions of my knockout dowel is larger than the drawing. the drawing calls out the diameter as 1.5". Mine is slightly larger than that. The nylon piece that's embedded in the keel however is enlarged and a bit cracked inside. Not sure how that all happened. The stainless pin looks good, and fits tightly in the nylon insert.

As you can see from the attached photos, the main problem is there is a lot of light between the knockout and the main nylon insert. More sloppy on the port side as it's quite enlarged there. Any suggestions for repair without a complete teardown and refabrication of the keel? Oversize the knockout dowel? Should I just ignore it for my non-stressful daysailing on a small lake? I dont' see any danger of the keel falling off or anything drastic. Just rattles back and forth more than it should.

Jim

 

[shemandr]

I can't say but I would be a bit uncomfortable with the amount of meat between the centerboard pin hole and the edge of the centerboard. I'd fear that water ingress would weaken what's left there.
While your sailing is basically around a tame lake we've seen violent weather happen almost anywhere. With good planning you may never experience that and the centerboard will be fine.
But, while dis-assembled I would want to fix it for the foreseeable future. For me that would mean using fiberglass mat to fill the pin hole with a scarfed edge of several inches. And then drilling a new hole the correct size for the pin and maybe a protective bushing.
Why re-assemble a defective part?

 

[Jim_3]

Good point. I thought about simply re-inserting the nylon spindle in the existing hole, then packing it with fiberglass resin/roving or maybe marine epoxy to fill the void and further prevent water intrusion; then finishing off the exterior with a pair of large SS fender washers to hold everything in place.

 

[SeaTR]

Jim_3
---I would recommend that you do a complete overhaul of your H22 (1981) swing keel. I have done so a number of times over the past 15 yrs' ownership of my H22 sailing on Long Island Sound (LIS). Granted, conditions on LIS may be much more challenging than that on your lake, and I grew better / quicker at doing the subsequently needed overhauls. But limping along on substandard equipment status will take a lot of the enjoyment out your "high seas adventures"...arrrrrrrrrr!

If you have not already seen my thread on my H22 (1981), dating from ~ 2009 to the present, please do so, and see if it does / does not help you to place the proper urgency / priority for your particular situation / decision (see link below).

Need Rudder and swing keel dimensions (1981, H22)

Need Rudder and swing keel dimensions - 1981 H22 I have a 1981 H22 salvage boat that did not have its original rudder and had a repaired swing keel when I bought it. (yes, I've been busy restoring..other things as well) UPDATE: 03/28/2022--- The saga continues....my rudder failed late last...

forums.sailboatowners.com

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WRT, "I dont' see any danger of the keel falling off or anything drastic. Just rattles back and forth more than it should. "

Well, those two points may indeed be true, but:

1.---danger of the keel falling off--- yes, the ~1300 lbs of lead counterbalance is located in the bilges to the port and starboard of the swing keel trunk...i.e., INSIDE the boat ... and won't "drastically" affect immediate danger to the crew with its loss. IF it were INSIDE the swing keel itself, the loss of counterbalance could be catastrophic (N/A).
2.---Just rattles back and forth more --- Do you plan to do ANY over-nighters ON the lake, wherein you (and any passengers / visitors) would want to ACTUALLY get some sleep? The clanging around of a loose swing keel at anchor / dock was unbearable to me (and my first mate), and my keel was in MUCH better shape than that of your pictures! ....What's your level of noise tolerance?

Above all, have "fun" while you are working your decided course of action ... knowing that you are at the hand of your work, rather than at at the hand of someone else's work (....which MAY not be to your expectations / standards). You never know, you may pickup some new skills along the way.
Change that, you WILL pickup some new skills (maybe needed in the future...) along the way!

Charlie

 

[Jim_3]

Suggestions much appreciated. Actually I was being a bit facetious with the suggestion of not fixing it while it's apart!

After my first post I did some more detailed measurements. That's when I realized the last over-hauler used a severely undersized dowel which accounts for the damage on the port side and chewing out of the keel insert; as well as a lot of the side-to-side rattling. I then ordered 12" of nylon dowel from McMaster-Carr. Ordered Friday, it was here Monday...a good company! I ordered it in a diameter that was just slightly oversized for the "intact" part of the hole that was left. I cut the dowel the full width of the keel, about 3" so it's flush with the sides. Drilled a 9/16 hole through it.

I filed the keel hole out with a few strokes of a round file, tapped in the new nylon insert, then made a crude injection molding rig using a medical syringe to pack it with marine epoxy on both port and starboard. The void isn't as big as it looks in the picture. It shouldn't move now. Shown before sanding down the epoxy residue.

Haven't re-assembled it yet; once I do, are all authorities OK with using 3M 4200 to re-bed the keel pin brackets?

Jim