Fouled keel cable

[Chris]

In attempting to raise my swing keel I discovered that the cable has become fouled on the winch. Keel is presently down (when I turn the crank it simply spins and eventually comes off the winch) and what remains on the winch is maybe 3 turns around the drum and one or two outside the drum by the bolt on the aft side of the winch. Any recommendations for correcting this mess. I cannot raise the keel at all. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[John renfro]

keel

hello Chris, the handle should not come off the winch shaft, it is held on the shaft by a nut or an " E " clip. it is supposed to unscrew one or two turns, and then will stop on the clip or nut and then apply pressure to the winch to move the cable.good luckjohn

 

[Shane]

Wrong Way

If it is like my boat if it comes off while tring to raise the keel then you are turning the wrong way. My handle tightens on the winch when I raise the keel. There is a lot more force that way then when you are lowering the keel. Also seems like it could go into a uncontroled free fall if the handle decided to come loose while you are lowering it. I would look at it VERY carefully if I were you.

 

[greg]

up the keel

That has happened to me also. There are two ways to raise the keel when the boat is in the water. I have done both. One is to sail/motor to shallow water and the keel will come up as it hits bottom. How far it comes up is directly related to how shallow the water is! Usually you only need it to come up a bit to take the tension off the winch so you can untangle the mess or even remove it to set things right.The second method is to drop a STURDY line under the bow and walk both bitter ends back to the port/starboard winches. Secure each end to a winch. Then crank on one of the winches to lift the keel. It is not quite that easy in real life. First, it helps to have two people, one to crank (the strongest person as it is REAL hard) and one to be in/under the water to keep the line on the lowest part of the keel as tension is applied. It does work, I have done it but it ain't the best way. A couple of additional notes: use some kind of chafe guard on the rub rail as cranking the line up WILL wear a groove in the rub rail. The person in the water (snorkel gear helps) must exercise EXTREME CAUTION about getting UNDER the keel for obvious reasons. However, in my personal experience there is really no need to actually be under the keel, only close enough and above it to guide the line to the lowest point to get the best mechanical advantage, otherwise, the keel will not be moved by the Cat 22 mini winches.

 

[Chris]

Will try shallow water first

THanks. Sounds like going gently into shallow water is an easier method to release tension. I'll give this a try first. If unsuccessful I will try running a line under the boat - this is what I considered doing first, however, did not want to risk messing the deck/hull area with the tension on the line.