Beneteau 331 lift keel issue

have a lift keel on my Jeanneau Sundream 28. almost the same but uses a winch on the table to lift and drop the centerboard. quite easy to do luckily and not many turns. I have the boat on a road type trailer at my club we dont have a yacht lift crane thingy so i am unable to get to the centerboard underneath unless i dig a big hole. i had the board removed when i got the boat 2 years ago and had it shot blasted and re-epoxied so hoping all ok still. I took apart the table this year to replace the rope on the winch side that goes to the pivot bar onto the centerboard. I couldnt see the centerboard from above though
 
Benny257 said:
A 50kg keel ? Really ?
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Benny 257,

once one gets over about 25' the engineering of a lift keel becomes serious, which is why most such boats like the Anderson 26, Seal 28 etc have a ballast stub on the hull and a relatively light centreplate going through a slot in the stub, the plates' main function being like that of a dinghy, to stop the boat going sideways when sailing to windward.

It's not such an efficient place for the ballast weight as on the lower end of the keel ( which can also have a ' fence ' wing effect too ) but much easier to arrange.

The odd large performance lift keeler has a relatively heavy vertically lifting keel ( a vertical lift keeps the CLR Centre of Lateral Resistance trim in the same place compared to a swing keel ), like the Barracuda 45, but then they need to run the engine to power the electric keel winch.
 
Just one other thing might be worth mentioning. When going to the trouble of changing the bearing as originally shown, I would strongly advise changing the so called "Bronze Screw" that the worm drive passes through. On the original style this is positioned at the bottom of the worm drive at the keel trailing edge. Thus the only way to gain access is to lower the keel in slings.(as discussed). This part is considered to be a "wearing " part and does fail. If it fails in use your first thought will be "Golly gosh I wish I had changed that bit when I had the chance"
One advantage of changing to a complete new lift keel mechanism is that the Bronze nut is at the top and can be changed by winding the keel down with it chocked up under the boat in the winter or when sat on the bottom at low tide. At this point you can also grease the mechanism. This in itself is not a reason to change to a new one because the cost is so high.
I have owned a Beneteau 305 First Lift Keel for over 10 years now and the lift keel has certainly caused me some angst. Without it though I would not be able to keep it where I do on a swinging mooring as for me marina fees are prohibitive
 
Have removed my mechanism several times by diving under and removing the pin from the mechanism, then lifting it out from inside. Of course its much easier if you're lifting out anyway, but in the absence of a crane it is easily possible with the help of a diver. 10 min job.
 
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