MY 22 IS ON A TRAILER, I LOWERED THE KEEL TO REST ON THE TRAILER BUT IT ONLY LOWERED ABOUT FOUR TURNS ON THE WENCH AND GOES NO FURTHER. AT THAT POINT THE WENCH HANDLE UNTHREADS EVEN THOUGH THE NUT FOR THE HANDLE IS OR WAS TIGHT BECAUSE IT UNTHREADS WITH THE HANDLE. INSIDE THE CABIN THERE ARE THREE ACCESS HOLES. THE TOP ONE YOU CAN SEE A HOLE THRU THE KEEL THE MIDDLE HOLE LOOKS LIKE A 9/16 BOLT HEAD AND THE BOTTOM HOLE LOOKS LIKE A 3/4 OR 1 INCH BOLT HEAD.ANY SUGGESTION OF WHAT I NEED TO DO TO LOWER THE KEEL. WHERE CAN I BUY A REPLACEMENT KEEL HANGER BOLT OR BUSHING.( USING A LIGHT I CAN SEE IT NEEDS REPLACED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT.
keel jammed
- Thread starter Phatom
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Have you had the boat in the water, or is it a recently acquired purchase! If in salt water you could have gotten something stuck up in the keel. The three bolts I am assuming you are talking about are the pivot bolt, lock down bolt and stop bolt for your keel! the only one you should be able to see through is the lock down bolt, where the bolt passes through it to secure the keel when under sail! The stop bolt stays in place and prevents the keel from going any further forward than it is supposed to! that never comes out, and the pivot bolt is what the keel pivots on when raising or lowering! If it is an old boat, the fiberglass covering could possibly jam it as it peels away from the iron inner section! If that is the case, you may have to get the boat off the trailer and force the keel down to pull the old glass off!
Have you had the boat in the water, or is it a recently acquired purchase! If in salt water you could have gotten something stuck up in the keel. The three bolts I am assuming you are talking about are the pivot bolt, lock down bolt and stop bolt for your keel! the only one you should be able to see through is the lock down bolt, where the bolt passes through it to secure the keel when under sail! The stop bolt stays in place and prevents the keel from going any further forward than it is supposed to! that never comes out, and the pivot bolt is what the keel pivots on when raising or lowering! If it is an old boat, the fiberglass covering could possibly jam it as it peels away from the iron inner section! If that is the case, you may have to get the boat off the trailer and force the keel down to pull the old glass off!
the boat has been sitting in the canal in light salt water for about two years the pervious owner had the bottom cleaned everyother month put they never dropped the keel. i just picked the boat up last week it needs alot of tlc. i did notice a tight area below the pivot bolt. that could be the exfoliation of the keel pushing the fiberglass against the bunk. it is close to the bottom maybe i will get the sawsall out and cut into it ( maybe ) or suport the keel pull the pin and drop it that way once i get the replacement pin. do you know where i can get one? thank you dennis
What i did
I went down to True Value and got a stainless steel bolt to replace the pivot pin! That pin usually fatigues the most and will actually bend with time! I think when the present one, and I have had it in for 3 years, bends again i will go to a larger size, and that will solve that problem, although 3 years is a long time, plus it hasnt bent yet! Anyway if you have to redo the keel I built a cradle and pulled the trailer out from under the boat, so i could drop the keel altogether! Then I redid it even fiberglassing it again. I think if I ever have to do it again though, i will simply remove the old glass, get rid of the rust and epoxy over the keel and not add the glass. it is lot easier! also a barnacle or other creature could have gotten up into the keel trunk, and be jamming it since it was in salt water! Probably though the fiberglass is working away from the iron! if you start cutting, though just dont cut the wrong thing! I told one guy to put WD40 into his keel area and that seemed to help him get his unglued! Good luck. I have a V222. You can see the pic of her on the pic area of this site. it is under windy day at the lake!
I went down to True Value and got a stainless steel bolt to replace the pivot pin! That pin usually fatigues the most and will actually bend with time! I think when the present one, and I have had it in for 3 years, bends again i will go to a larger size, and that will solve that problem, although 3 years is a long time, plus it hasnt bent yet! Anyway if you have to redo the keel I built a cradle and pulled the trailer out from under the boat, so i could drop the keel altogether! Then I redid it even fiberglassing it again. I think if I ever have to do it again though, i will simply remove the old glass, get rid of the rust and epoxy over the keel and not add the glass. it is lot easier! also a barnacle or other creature could have gotten up into the keel trunk, and be jamming it since it was in salt water! Probably though the fiberglass is working away from the iron! if you start cutting, though just dont cut the wrong thing! I told one guy to put WD40 into his keel area and that seemed to help him get his unglued! Good luck. I have a V222. You can see the pic of her on the pic area of this site. it is under windy day at the lake!
Just for fun
THE WINCH HAS A HANDLE HELD ON BY A NUT...THE WENCH HAS A HAND ON THE.....OH, NEVER MIND. PICKY, PICKY.
THE WINCH HAS A HANDLE HELD ON BY A NUT...THE WENCH HAS A HAND ON THE.....OH, NEVER MIND. PICKY, PICKY.
Another keel issue
Hey Dennis, when you refer to the stop bolt do you mean the rubber bumper? I just found the manual to my M25 I just bought and it shows the bumper. It also said to install the lock bolt before lowering the keel if not wanting to lock to keel down. I sailed her last week and just lowered the keel all the way with installing the lock bolt at all. Yesterday the boat was full of water, I assume from a leak at the pivot bolt. Any suggestions on fixing? Many thanks. Phil
Hey Dennis, when you refer to the stop bolt do you mean the rubber bumper? I just found the manual to my M25 I just bought and it shows the bumper. It also said to install the lock bolt before lowering the keel if not wanting to lock to keel down. I sailed her last week and just lowered the keel all the way with installing the lock bolt at all. Yesterday the boat was full of water, I assume from a leak at the pivot bolt. Any suggestions on fixing? Many thanks. Phil
Yes
What i did was get some rubber washers at TrueValue and put them around my bolts, to stop any leaks. Also though on my pivot bolt, and on the trunk of the keel I made what I call a trunk saddle to take the weight off the fiberglass. I made it out of 1/8th in aluminum and ran my pivot bolt through it. It sets over the whole trunk like a saddle. It is in the archives or I could put another pic of it up here. I also rebuilt around the pivot bolt hole the fiberglass making it thicker for more strength! As to sailing without the keel locked down, in fresh water that is fine, with the keel resting against it, but if you go to sea, I would definately lock the keel down! it is much rougher out there, than a lake! It depends of course on conditions! The rubber bumper your talking about, I am not sure about, I have a stop bolt, that prevents the keel from moving forward any further. Perhaps yours does have a rubber bumper. At any rate, both would do the same thing, and that is limit the keel movement! You could always put a bolt in, if your not sure!If you sail with the keel not locked down, you still have to have the lock bolt in place or water will come in! The keel will simply rest against the bolt! At sea if you ever had a roll over, and the keel wasnt locked down, well you could see the disaster!
What i did was get some rubber washers at TrueValue and put them around my bolts, to stop any leaks. Also though on my pivot bolt, and on the trunk of the keel I made what I call a trunk saddle to take the weight off the fiberglass. I made it out of 1/8th in aluminum and ran my pivot bolt through it. It sets over the whole trunk like a saddle. It is in the archives or I could put another pic of it up here. I also rebuilt around the pivot bolt hole the fiberglass making it thicker for more strength! As to sailing without the keel locked down, in fresh water that is fine, with the keel resting against it, but if you go to sea, I would definately lock the keel down! it is much rougher out there, than a lake! It depends of course on conditions! The rubber bumper your talking about, I am not sure about, I have a stop bolt, that prevents the keel from moving forward any further. Perhaps yours does have a rubber bumper. At any rate, both would do the same thing, and that is limit the keel movement! You could always put a bolt in, if your not sure!If you sail with the keel not locked down, you still have to have the lock bolt in place or water will come in! The keel will simply rest against the bolt! At sea if you ever had a roll over, and the keel wasnt locked down, well you could see the disaster!
old salt
old salt; what would do when you want to lower your keel and the wench handle unthreads itself and unthreads the nut with it?
old salt; what would do when you want to lower your keel and the wench handle unthreads itself and unthreads the nut with it?
Redondo Cat28
I,am not sure i understand the cap lock would that be the keel lock down bolt? i still have not received info from any one on what the top hole in the keel is for ( as seen thru the bunk cover inside the cabin ). i understand the bottom one is the keel pivot pin the middle hole is the lock down bolt; and the top hole i am still waiting on a answer. thank you redondo
I,am not sure i understand the cap lock would that be the keel lock down bolt? i still have not received info from any one on what the top hole in the keel is for ( as seen thru the bunk cover inside the cabin ). i understand the bottom one is the keel pivot pin the middle hole is the lock down bolt; and the top hole i am still waiting on a answer. thank you redondo
CAPS Lock
CAPS Lock is on your computer keyboard. If you type in ALL CAPITIAL LETTERS it means you are shouting.
CAPS Lock is on your computer keyboard. If you type in ALL CAPITIAL LETTERS it means you are shouting.
If you see
Lets try this again. The three holes the pivot hole is the lowest, then the second up and forward of the pivot hole, is the lock down bolt hole. The very top one and to the right of the pivot bolt hole, is the stop bolt. That prevents the keel from moving any further forward. It is a bolt you put in and leave in. Should the keel also break loose, it will save your fiberglass trunk from excessive damage! That is the layout on my V222. and I must assume it is the same on a Mac. 22
Lets try this again. The three holes the pivot hole is the lowest, then the second up and forward of the pivot hole, is the lock down bolt hole. The very top one and to the right of the pivot bolt hole, is the stop bolt. That prevents the keel from moving any further forward. It is a bolt you put in and leave in. Should the keel also break loose, it will save your fiberglass trunk from excessive damage! That is the layout on my V222. and I must assume it is the same on a Mac. 22
Keel lockdown?
My V-21 has no provision to lock the keel down that I can see other than gravity.
My V-21 has no provision to lock the keel down that I can see other than gravity.
It's all about slack
On my 21, the difference between full up, and down on the trailer is maybe four turns. Crank it all the way up, and verify that the keel is off of the rest on the trailer. Now crank it down until the handle starts to unthread, and look at the keel. Is it resting on the trailer at the rear or still suspended? As long as there is down pressure against my winch - it cranks down, when there is no longer any down pressure - the handle starts to unthread. Also, with it cranked down as far as it will go - is the cable still taught?
On my 21, the difference between full up, and down on the trailer is maybe four turns. Crank it all the way up, and verify that the keel is off of the rest on the trailer. Now crank it down until the handle starts to unthread, and look at the keel. Is it resting on the trailer at the rear or still suspended? As long as there is down pressure against my winch - it cranks down, when there is no longer any down pressure - the handle starts to unthread. Also, with it cranked down as far as it will go - is the cable still taught?
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