Finally replacing my keel cable. What's with all this extra length?

Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
New CD winch and cable going in. (cha ching!) The cable has a TON of extra length. Like three feet or more.

Can I cut some of this excess off, or do I need all those extra turns of wire on the drum for friction or whatever?
 
May 23, 2016
1,024
Catalina 22 #12502 BSC
cut it off IMO (more wire, more opportunity for a rat's nest)....perhaps it's a multi-purpose length supplied by CD to accommodate a C25 swing keel as well as a C22?
(I'd give 'em a call first though....)
 
  • Like
Likes: Gene Neill
Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
Okay ... for now, I'm gonna keep the excess, since I won't REALLY know the extent of it until the boat is in the water with the keel down. I can always cut some off later if it birdnests or something.

And I'd rather the cable was 3' too long than 1" too short. ;)
 
  • Like
Likes: ShotgunSlim

greg_m

.
May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
"...the extra length" - she never complained before! Whats the problem?
 
  • Like
Likes: Grotto
Sep 20, 2014
1,320
Rob Legg RL24 Chain O'Lakes
More wraps makes the drum larger, which speeds your lift ratio.

Not sure how yours is setup, but one thing I did is count the number of wraps left on the hub so I would know where to stop cranking when I lower the keel. You could cut it so you have exactly one layer, so you know where to stop. On my boat, if you let it out too far, it swings forward and cracks the fiberglass in the front of the trunk. But either way, knowing the optimum center position gives you a starting point to balance the boat.
 
Jul 13, 2015
893
Catalina 22 #2552 2252 Kennewick, WA
I kept it-- but to your point I'm not sure it has any mechanical value. Perhaps one could argue that stainless on stainless is preferable for the working end? And not completely sure this is relevant but I did look up winch loading / rating and technically a layer or two is by design:

Winches are rated based on pulling against a static load and with only one layer of wire rope wrapped around the drum. But when a winch is in use and rope is pulled in and layered on the drum, the winch's pulling power drops. A winch has its greatest pulling power on the first 2 layers of rope.

Edit: found the graphic--


winch rating.PNG
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes: Gene Neill
Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
I'm just glad the job is done now. When we bought her (good grief, it's been almost seven years ago) the PO told me the winch and cable were original as far as he knew. Everything looked great though, and she was a freshwater boat, so I left it alone ... probably longer than I should have.
 

AaronD

.
Aug 10, 2014
723
Catalina 22 9874 Newberg, OR / Olympia, WA
My self-imposed maintenance schedule calls for replacing the cable every 3 years and the turning ball + hose + clamps, etc. every 6. That's for a saltwater boat in the water for ~3-4 months a year. Probably excessive, but it seems like pretty cheap insurance, and a quick project (the winch wasn't so quick, but that one should be good for many years).
 
  • Like
Likes: Gene Neill
Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
It's never excessive if it makes you feel good. :) I change my keel bolts annually, which might be called excessive. But it comes from having bought a boat with frozen keel bolts, and three of them shearing off. It very nearly broke me of sailing before I even got started.
 
  • Wow
Likes: ShotgunSlim
Sep 16, 2020
22
Catalina 22 New Braunfels
I just recently acquired my 86 22. The keel cable was broken so I replaced the turning ball, hose and clamps too. I could not get the new hose to seat all the way down on the through hull. Have y'all seen that too? I guess I could have tried a heat gun. I think it is down far enough for the clamps to bite down. Gene, have you ever replaced the bow eye on your boat?