Cliff, We are in Stuart at the moment, at the Sunset Bay Marina, formerly the South Point Anchorage.If you by chance are nearby or on our way North,we could possibly meet up.The boat does want to be out of the water to grease the theaded rod,very easy.When on the hard with a block under the keel,I just crank the keel down,it does not go down because it is held in the up position,the rod comes up out of the table.Grease it and crank it back.There is a zinc which you should replace which is on one of the bars which is part of the lifting mechanism.The boat has to be lifted pretty high,so you can run the keel down and look up inside the keel housing.It can be done with a offset screwdriver and a small wrench.I do this at my marina while the workers go to lunch.I always shedual for the boat to be put in right after lunch.The zinc behide the prop is a bad design,when it starts to dissapate,the screw becomes loose and the zinc will come off.I do dive under the boat quite a bit to tighten the screw,this has worked out pretty good.Some people have designed a brace that they strap under the boat while in the water to keep the keel up while they crank the keel bolt to grease it,I would think once every two years would be fine.Running aground with the keel down is no problem,I keep the keel down a bit when I am in shallow water,when it drags on the bottom,we just lift it up a little to continue on.You may e-mail me if you want with other questions if you would like.
bumsrest@aol.com Also,if you want my cell #,e-mail me and I will give it to you. Bum
