So firstly, I acquired a new boat (Sabre 28) but still keep my Macgregor 25 (the neighbors will try it out for size this summer). While bringing the Mac up Chesapeake for the winter, I noticed that the keel was banging around even when in down and locked position. The banging was audible only when under power in cross waves and with the sails down. It was "normal" (i.e. no banging) when heeling. Once hauled out, I checked the free play and it seemed normal to me. Dropping the keel will be a hassle. On a flip side, I want to make sure that the neighbors are safe sailing it next summer. Am I being paranoid? The Admiral claims she did not hear anything out of ordinary. Ah, andf I did replace the keel bolt 5 years ago with the one from BWY, and the old one did not seem worn out at all.
Wobbly keel?
- Thread starter Piotr
- Start date
Was the cable slack at the time, or did you have some tension on it?... mine will woble a bit if i dont release the tension all the way.
But when i replaced the pivot bolt, i shimmed it with large flange fender washers to take ALL the play out of it.
I actually think the knocking sound is more of a twisting action rather than a side play thing when the boat and foil fight their battle against the wave action... in a swing keel boat there is bound to be some movement in the foil at times, so if it all looks good, it probably is...
But when i replaced the pivot bolt, i shimmed it with large flange fender washers to take ALL the play out of it.
I actually think the knocking sound is more of a twisting action rather than a side play thing when the boat and foil fight their battle against the wave action... in a swing keel boat there is bound to be some movement in the foil at times, so if it all looks good, it probably is...
That's not quite true. In well designed swing keel boats, there is NO play. Special devices spaced on the upper part of the swing keel stay in physical contact with the keel trunk, triangulation the load and eliminating slop.
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its a macgregor... sometimes one has to add a spacer of their own as i did.
And when the keel is down in the lockable position, it is not squeezed in there, but has almost 3/32 of side slack at the lock bolt hole... this is the thickness of a couple washers.
This is on a macgregor that has spent most of its life in a garage, so one that
has spent more time on the water or docked for a number of years, it could have developed a bit more...
Its easy to shim the pivot bolt by pulling the bolt and adding shims, but shimmimg the lockdown bolt area takes a bit of glassing/building up the trunk, or welding a shim to the keel.
I suppose it may be possible to tighten the pivot bolt and lockdown bolt to squeeze th trunk tighter against the keel, but i think its best to fill the slack with shims, so there is less stressing of the trunk by over tightening of the bolts.
I have never had any banging unless the keel was down all the way. That allowed the keel to bang against the stop. The triangulation is correct and I think that the stock way of how the keel cable attaches to the keel aids in side loading. It is bolted through but attaches on one side. This causes the keel to cock to one side unless the hold down bolt is used. Personally I have never used the bolt. Previous owner hit a rock and tested the floatation in Buzzards bay. The piece needs to move but not be sloppy.
The keel will have side to side movement, more with age. When I rebuilt mine, I rebuilt the pivot hole using epoxy, grafite, and fiber. I used a long bolt wrapped in package tape to set up the pivot bolt perpendicular. After remounting the keel, I used 2 pieces of fiberglass board to shim midway in the tunnel so that when anchored over night it would not bang. You could use cutting board.
I have a M26s now and painted the keel and inside the tunnel with bottom paint. I had to take the keel back off and sand some paint off as it was too much and too tight. It is another way to shim.
I have a M26s now and painted the keel and inside the tunnel with bottom paint. I had to take the keel back off and sand some paint off as it was too much and too tight. It is another way to shim.