C22 TRAILER SPECS. SWING KEEL

[Jerry]

I just bought a 1976 Catalina 22 swing keel & trailer. The trailer is not set up correctly. There is no room to release the swing keel to rest. Can anyone give me the correct trailer setup and what heights the bunkboards should be? Any other tips or info would be greatly appreciated. Pictures would also help. Thanks again.

 

[Mike]

Just a couple of inches

You only need a couple of inches clearance. After you launch your boat, you can raise the forward and rear bunk supports equal amounts. Leave the center bunk support on each side slightly loose. When you reload your boat after having fun all season, adjust the center bunk supports, and tighten them. Making too high of clearance creates several problems.1. You need deeper water to launch / retrieve your boat.2. You raise the center of gravity of the loaded trailer, making it less safe to tow.3. You have to lower the keel more when trailering, allowing it to move laterally and cause wear and damage to the hanger assembly.4. You'll need a longer ladder to get onto your trailered boat.

 

[tom b.]

all you really need to do is to take the stress .

off the keel cable. does the keel hit the bottom of the trailer or as on mine I have a small rubber v shaped roller under my keel.  On my trailer the boat is setup with about only an inch under it. Again, if you don't have a problem loading the boat and the keel hits a roller of some kind, thats okay. Just get in and back the cable off a little so there is no strain on it. It's not the lowerin of the keel thats important, just the releasing stress of the cable.Well, I guess it's also to allow the keel to kinda sit to one side so it doesn't move around on the keel pin.  Also, check the archives... lots of info there.

 

[David Williams]

Are your bunks adjustable?

If your bunks are adjustable, float the boat and raise a little. You may have to load or unload your boat a couple of times to get it right. Another you could also use blocks and a jack to raise the boat on the trailer, then adjust the bunks. I only have 1/4 of an inch under my fully raised keel and its pad. You will want to adjust the bunks so that the boat doesn't sit on the keel. My bunks are not adjustable. A previous owner, corrected the height by using spacer-boards under the bunk-boards.