FirstAway
Well-Known Member
I have a First 24 with a lifting keel, over the week end the thread on the mechanism stripped, resulting in a very fast lowering of the keel! However when I took it apart the tube section was quite badly bent ( 10 - 15 degrees) and had obviously been scored numerous times on the inside of the bend.
We had a similar failure about 4 years ago when the whole mechanism was replaced proffesionally. The tube section was similarly bent then too (I can't remember if it was scored as well). At the time we thought it had been damaged due to grounding, but this time I don't believe that we have hit anything hard enough to do this.
I would like to understand what is causing this failure (in my view premature) and wondered if anybody else had any similar experiences or ideas. I know the keel mechanism on many of the smaller Bénéteau models is identical.
Thanks for any ideas
We had a similar failure about 4 years ago when the whole mechanism was replaced proffesionally. The tube section was similarly bent then too (I can't remember if it was scored as well). At the time we thought it had been damaged due to grounding, but this time I don't believe that we have hit anything hard enough to do this.
I would like to understand what is causing this failure (in my view premature) and wondered if anybody else had any similar experiences or ideas. I know the keel mechanism on many of the smaller Bénéteau models is identical.
Thanks for any ideas