I keep my boat in a slip in the summer and driveway in winter. I leave my keel down when in slip (have heard different arguments for either way). I hadn't gotten to the boat in a couple months and when I returned found the cable broken. Dove and saw that water level had dropped and keel was on bottom. I assume the movement back and forth in slip and weight of boat caused snap. The break was right where the cable is swaged to the forked fitting. I assume work hardened and broke, or just straight up broke with strain. I am concerned that with that much shifting around my keel pin connection May have also seen some worn how do you tell if the keel has too much movement and how much movement is okay? I dove and reattached a new cable and have retracted the keel for now have not yet taken her out.
How can I tell if my keel is loose/wobble how much play is ok? Catalina 22
- Thread starter scouper
- Start date
I had an O'Day Mariner with its cast iron centreboard. When I sailed her, she was already 40 years old with no visible cracks or delamination at the trunk-hull joint or around the bolt. I inspected the cable at the beginning of every season. The CB had enough play to drip a bit when under sail. I occasionally tightened it juuuuuust enough to keep it from dripping when not moving in calm water.
It was the simplest possible design: a bolt through the CB trunk at the forward lower corner and a winch in the cockpit to raise/lower via a stainless cable attaced at the lower aft edge. The CB trunk was reinforced with extra glass around the bolt.
I was told all kinds of opinions on keeping the board up or down at the dock or mooring. I chose to leave it up because I wasn't a fan of the board bumping around in waves. Seems to me that the CB would throw lots of leverage on the CB trunk every time that happened.
I hope this helps.
It was the simplest possible design: a bolt through the CB trunk at the forward lower corner and a winch in the cockpit to raise/lower via a stainless cable attaced at the lower aft edge. The CB trunk was reinforced with extra glass around the bolt.
I was told all kinds of opinions on keeping the board up or down at the dock or mooring. I chose to leave it up because I wasn't a fan of the board bumping around in waves. Seems to me that the CB would throw lots of leverage on the CB trunk every time that happened.
I hope this helps.
@scouper If it's been a while why not take the winter when it's on the trailer to drop the keel and inspect the pivot, hangers, turning ball, volcano tube, winch, etc. Being brass they do wear and while some side to side play is normal it's hard to say online what is excessive.
It's actually good that the keel was left down as when the cable snaps in the water the keel hits the front of the trunk in a free fall and generally causes a crack in the trunk Some boats go diving after that.
It's actually good that the keel was left down as when the cable snaps in the water the keel hits the front of the trunk in a free fall and generally causes a crack in the trunk Some boats go diving after that.
Good point, guess I dodged a bullet a bit, although the cable was relatively new (replaced 2 seasons ago) so I think the keel stuck on the bottom while the boat was bouncing in the slip probably did it. Not sure how I'll approach it in future--but given the varying levels of my lake, I think probably will leave keel up in the future, and as you suggest, be sure to inspect every fall when she comes out. Also, could watch lake level reports more carefully!
The more wobble you have, the more wear on the keel pin and keel hole. Eventually the pin will get flat spots and the hole will become distorted, adding to further wear and tear further down the line. A "ker-thunk" sound from the keel wobbling side to side when a wave hits is a good sign of trouble. In the extreme case, the hole will oblong and eventually give out allowing the keel to just fall off. This happened to my slip mate - luckily while at the slip. He got a used keel and refurbished it, but after one season of leaving the keel down at the slip where it grated against the bottom during tide changes, it look like it needed another overhaul.
I recommend inspecting the keel pin and hole the next time it's out of the water. You can replace the keel pin if needed. There are some techniques out there for addressing distorted holes like inserts, welding up the hole and redrilling, etc.
If you only have slight hole distortion (not structural degradation) you can try this: When I refurbished my keel, I wrapped the new pin in wax paper, slid the pin in the hole, and then filled the minor gaps between the pin and keel hole with epoxy and fiberglass strands. The wax paper acts as a thin release barrier between the pin and the keel hole. Once the epoxy dried, I removed the keel pin and wax paper which left me a solid, perfectly round keel hole. After adding the centering kit from CD and re-installing the keel, I've had no wobbles in the years since.
And, because I keep my keel up at the slip, it still looks newly refurbished. Good luck.
I recommend inspecting the keel pin and hole the next time it's out of the water. You can replace the keel pin if needed. There are some techniques out there for addressing distorted holes like inserts, welding up the hole and redrilling, etc.
If you only have slight hole distortion (not structural degradation) you can try this: When I refurbished my keel, I wrapped the new pin in wax paper, slid the pin in the hole, and then filled the minor gaps between the pin and keel hole with epoxy and fiberglass strands. The wax paper acts as a thin release barrier between the pin and the keel hole. Once the epoxy dried, I removed the keel pin and wax paper which left me a solid, perfectly round keel hole. After adding the centering kit from CD and re-installing the keel, I've had no wobbles in the years since.
And, because I keep my keel up at the slip, it still looks newly refurbished. Good luck.
This is exactly my issue. I will have a look when it's out of the water in Oct.--but I'm worried that just as your slip mate, I've likely had some wear and tear on the hole, during this summer with the keel dragging on the bottom in several blows. Already I feel like when I'm in the boat and tip it from side to side, (keel is now up), I'm hearing a bumping sound I never heard before. I like your tip on rebuilding around a wax paper barrier. Yes, I'm definitely now a "keep up in slip" advocate.
Here's a before and after of my keel. If you zoom in on the after picture, you can see the roundness of the reconditioned hole. The white tabs are part of the CD centering kit and are epoxied on. They help eliminate any side to side wobble when the keel is down and the forward part of the keel is up in the pocket.
Looks great thanks for the tips yes I may get that centering kit. Will there be space for those epoxied spacers no matter the boat condition? always struck me as a bit odd that they're creating an aftermarket spacer for a built-in flaw in the product but I guess that's what it is? Meaning if I put those on I'm not at risk of them being too tight or not fitting? Or possibly scraping off, cracking the trunk?
Measure! pretty good chance the gap in the keel head is not symmetrical port to starboard. I made my own spacers from left over fiberglass cloth -- but used calipers to get a good measurement of the keel up in the slot. Every keel a bit unique but you can see the difference in the pics below. You don't want to go too thick to actually impair movement-- you can see below that I'm just scraping the primer off one corner.... perfect.
