I have been thinking about dropping the swing keel on my Catalina 22 for some maintenance. I think I have come up with a workable idea that would involve securely fastening the keel to the trailer (a few temporary mods to the trailer), unbolting the hinge plate bolts and removing the keel cable connection. Then I would back the trailer into the water, float the boat off the trailer and keel. I would then pull the trailer up out of the water, go to a local free gantry frame and hoist the keel onto the bed of my pickup. Then I would go back and retrieve the boat and park it until the keel is ready to be reinstalled. In theory, this seems to be a workable solution. Since my boat is currently parked close to the water, I am able to leave the mast up. I have heard people losing their keels, presumably while sailing, and not turning turtle. So I thought the above scenerio would work with the mast UP sans keel. Or would that be pushing the margin of safety? Any comments or input about my "plan" would be appreciated.
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T
Ted
I just dropped my keel Yesterday . . .
Your plan sounds OK, but you do not need to launch the boat in order to get the keel out. I just took my swing keel out while the boat was on the trailer (and lived to tell about it!). Here are a few pointers. - If you raise the boat up on the trailer about 3" (progressive jacking and then support with a couple of 2x6 blocks along the length of the bunks), you can remove the keel. - build a frame to hold the keel upright and use an automotive jack to support the keel while disconnecting and lower it into the frame. - the keel cable will help to hold the keel in its 'upright position' while lowering. Make sure you have enough clearance between the keel and the hull as the rear portion raises slightly while the front portion is lowered into your frame. If the rear part of the keel comes into contact with the hull and tries to rasie it, there could be some damage to the hull. - to clear the trailer I had to 'flop' the keel on its side (the tricky part). That is where you water launching idea may have an advantage over dry land operations. I think the payback will be when you try to put the keel back on. I think it will be difficult to get everything lined up properly in the water. Any ways, I looped the anchor lines around the keel to support it (to and bottom) and then began to slowly flop the keel on its side by losening the top line. At about 45 dedress I placed a hydralic jack under the keel pin and let it lower the keel the rest of the way on its side. While doing this I had to progressively losen the keel winch (cable) to allow the keel to flop in its side. I took the entire keel cable out by discoonecting it from the winch. This will alow me to inspect the cable without disassembling the swage fitting/eye bolt. - I place some 2" dowels under the keel which allowd it to roll out from under the boat/trailer (kind of like the Egyptians building the Pyramids). - SAFETY FIRST - I never got underneath or near the keel in case it fell. Good luck, Ted
Your plan sounds OK, but you do not need to launch the boat in order to get the keel out. I just took my swing keel out while the boat was on the trailer (and lived to tell about it!). Here are a few pointers. - If you raise the boat up on the trailer about 3" (progressive jacking and then support with a couple of 2x6 blocks along the length of the bunks), you can remove the keel. - build a frame to hold the keel upright and use an automotive jack to support the keel while disconnecting and lower it into the frame. - the keel cable will help to hold the keel in its 'upright position' while lowering. Make sure you have enough clearance between the keel and the hull as the rear portion raises slightly while the front portion is lowered into your frame. If the rear part of the keel comes into contact with the hull and tries to rasie it, there could be some damage to the hull. - to clear the trailer I had to 'flop' the keel on its side (the tricky part). That is where you water launching idea may have an advantage over dry land operations. I think the payback will be when you try to put the keel back on. I think it will be difficult to get everything lined up properly in the water. Any ways, I looped the anchor lines around the keel to support it (to and bottom) and then began to slowly flop the keel on its side by losening the top line. At about 45 dedress I placed a hydralic jack under the keel pin and let it lower the keel the rest of the way on its side. While doing this I had to progressively losen the keel winch (cable) to allow the keel to flop in its side. I took the entire keel cable out by discoonecting it from the winch. This will alow me to inspect the cable without disassembling the swage fitting/eye bolt. - I place some 2" dowels under the keel which allowd it to roll out from under the boat/trailer (kind of like the Egyptians building the Pyramids). - SAFETY FIRST - I never got underneath or near the keel in case it fell. Good luck, Ted
G
greg
Thanks Ted
Ted, thanks for the input. Your technique gave me some more ideas. You are right about reinstalling the keel while the boat is in the water. Although, I figured on using a mask and snorkel to help properly guide the boat back onto the trailer and keel. Did you have any problem with the hinge bolts removal/replacement? How did you refinish the keel?
Ted, thanks for the input. Your technique gave me some more ideas. You are right about reinstalling the keel while the boat is in the water. Although, I figured on using a mask and snorkel to help properly guide the boat back onto the trailer and keel. Did you have any problem with the hinge bolts removal/replacement? How did you refinish the keel?
T
Ted
Hinge Bolts . . .
Greg: See my web page (http://sites.netscape.net/tedsailingpage/) for my trials with hinge bolts. Two years ago I went to losen them just to check things out and ended up snapping a bolt. I had to re-thread two of four bolts, but all is well now. This time they came right out with no problem. If the hinge bolts on your boat have not come out in a while, I would be careful. I am currently re-surfacing the keel and am on day 2 of a many day project. I have been grinding off rust flake with a high powered orbit sander using 16 grit sanding disks. The keel has been maintained previously as there is epoxy fairing throughout. My plan is to take it down as much as possible with sanding and chemical rust removers. Then I will sand blast to get to bare metal. I am going to cold galvanize the keel and then epoxy/glass it in to (hopefully) get a good keel of lower maintenance. Regards, Ted
Greg: See my web page (http://sites.netscape.net/tedsailingpage/) for my trials with hinge bolts. Two years ago I went to losen them just to check things out and ended up snapping a bolt. I had to re-thread two of four bolts, but all is well now. This time they came right out with no problem. If the hinge bolts on your boat have not come out in a while, I would be careful. I am currently re-surfacing the keel and am on day 2 of a many day project. I have been grinding off rust flake with a high powered orbit sander using 16 grit sanding disks. The keel has been maintained previously as there is epoxy fairing throughout. My plan is to take it down as much as possible with sanding and chemical rust removers. Then I will sand blast to get to bare metal. I am going to cold galvanize the keel and then epoxy/glass it in to (hopefully) get a good keel of lower maintenance. Regards, Ted
C
CHARLIE
remove the keel
Greg, I refinished my keel last year. Catalina direct has a video of thier recomended procedure. I pretty much did what they did, modifed to work around my trailer.My trailer sits high, so on the sled I made I put wheels and removable upright supports. I lowered the keel onto blocks high enough to clear the trailer cross bars and with hydraulic jacks lifted the boat off the bunks inserting 2x8x8 blocks to rest the boat on. With the keel upright and seperaed from the boat, I carefully pulled the sled out from under by switching the front and back uprights to skip over the trailer cross bars. I then removed the uprights and with a long lever clamped to the keel, laid it on its side without the boat in the way. I had a seriously worn hole for the pivot pin and wound up at a local machine shop. They sand blasted to bare metal and welded in a marine stainless bushing. I refinished with rest preventer, fairing compound, barrier coat epoxy(on the hull too) bottom paint and re-installed the same way it came out. A lot of work , but worth it. good luck
Greg, I refinished my keel last year. Catalina direct has a video of thier recomended procedure. I pretty much did what they did, modifed to work around my trailer.My trailer sits high, so on the sled I made I put wheels and removable upright supports. I lowered the keel onto blocks high enough to clear the trailer cross bars and with hydraulic jacks lifted the boat off the bunks inserting 2x8x8 blocks to rest the boat on. With the keel upright and seperaed from the boat, I carefully pulled the sled out from under by switching the front and back uprights to skip over the trailer cross bars. I then removed the uprights and with a long lever clamped to the keel, laid it on its side without the boat in the way. I had a seriously worn hole for the pivot pin and wound up at a local machine shop. They sand blasted to bare metal and welded in a marine stainless bushing. I refinished with rest preventer, fairing compound, barrier coat epoxy(on the hull too) bottom paint and re-installed the same way it came out. A lot of work , but worth it. good luck
J
john renfro
keel
hello greg and ted,i re-did my keel and found that a 4inch angle grinder( cost $19.00) worked well to remove rust, paint and filler from the surface of the keel. it took only about two hours to get it clean. john
hello greg and ted,i re-did my keel and found that a 4inch angle grinder( cost $19.00) worked well to remove rust, paint and filler from the surface of the keel. it took only about two hours to get it clean. john
C
Chris
To get it back up is even trickier
Greg, use Ted's method by raising the boat with 2- 2x6 (I would go about 5-6 inches high instead of Ted's suggested 3 inches) then lowering the keel on the trailer vertically, then lowering it horizantally. That's the easy job, the hard job is raising that heavy slab of cast iron( trust me, you'll see just how heavy that thing can be when you start raising it) back up into the hull trunk. After you have repaired or inspected your keel and its ready to be reinstalled, bring it back to the trailor frame sled underneath the designated position of the keel trunk slot and position it flat. The only way your going to get it up is to use two pairs of comalongs to attached to the side frames of the trailor. And make sure that keel, when lifted, will fall into the V-guide in the rear sled. Also, you will need to create a V-guide in the front so that the front of the keel can rest. I used 2- 4x4 fence posts. I drilled a hole through both posts and used an 8 inch bolt to keep the posts from coming apart. The great thing about the posts is that they make great levers for manuvering the keel. The posts also allow you enough space beneath to set up an small car jack ( flat one) to eventually raise the keel. Once the keel is vertically positioned by using the comalongs and aligned with the keel trunk you can then attach the cable. Then slowly raise the keel with car jack. After that, attach the keel pin and support brackets( make sure you give your keel pin a heavy greasing with a marine grease)
Greg, use Ted's method by raising the boat with 2- 2x6 (I would go about 5-6 inches high instead of Ted's suggested 3 inches) then lowering the keel on the trailer vertically, then lowering it horizantally. That's the easy job, the hard job is raising that heavy slab of cast iron( trust me, you'll see just how heavy that thing can be when you start raising it) back up into the hull trunk. After you have repaired or inspected your keel and its ready to be reinstalled, bring it back to the trailor frame sled underneath the designated position of the keel trunk slot and position it flat. The only way your going to get it up is to use two pairs of comalongs to attached to the side frames of the trailor. And make sure that keel, when lifted, will fall into the V-guide in the rear sled. Also, you will need to create a V-guide in the front so that the front of the keel can rest. I used 2- 4x4 fence posts. I drilled a hole through both posts and used an 8 inch bolt to keep the posts from coming apart. The great thing about the posts is that they make great levers for manuvering the keel. The posts also allow you enough space beneath to set up an small car jack ( flat one) to eventually raise the keel. Once the keel is vertically positioned by using the comalongs and aligned with the keel trunk you can then attach the cable. Then slowly raise the keel with car jack. After that, attach the keel pin and support brackets( make sure you give your keel pin a heavy greasing with a marine grease)
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