Keel rope replacement, and swing keels in general

[Sire]

Hi folks

I thought I'd replace the keel rope before putting our boat on the water - it doesn't show that much wear but it's easy to get at now.

At present it is simply tied to the keel with an anchor hitch. I presume this is the strongest and longest-lasting solution?

Also, what is the usual way of fixing this type of swing keel down? There doesn't seem to be any way to do this on our boat.

Thanks!

 

[Tranona]

tHat is quite normal on small boats as it allows the keel to swing up if you hit bottom. The weight of the keel keeps it down when sailing. Some keels have stops to prevent them from falling right down if the rope breaks.

 

[Seajet]

I might be tempted to use a hard eye and shackle rather than a knot, as the latter may jam up inside the casing ?

That being said, the shackle would have to be sized so that it couldn't tumble sideways, or that's a potential jam too.

My boat has a vertical lifting keel, it's quite common for owners to fit a stainless wire on the keel winch, but in fact galvanised 7 x 19 wire is better, as it is more flexible to take the tight radius involved.

To lock the keel down as a precaution against it coming back into the boat at a rush if she ever inverted, I found a stainless tube cut to the right length fits between the keel top and the reinforced underside of the mast step, with the keel winched up slightly to secure it - possibly you could do the same.

 

[Sire]

To lock the keel down as a precaution against it coming back into the boat at a rush if she ever inverted, I found a stainless tube cut to the right length fits between the keel top and the reinforced underside of the mast step, with the keel winched up slightly to secure it - possibly you could do the same.

Unfortunately that won't work for me - there is no access to the swing keel from the inside at all. The rope comes out in the very centre of the cockpit floor, next to a little hump that has cam cleats (for the keel rope) and a U bolt that the lower mainsheet block shackes to.

Regarding the rope itself, I've just fitted the replacement with an anchor bend (hitch?). The keel feels a bit stiffer than it did last autumn but I suppose a bit of water will help lubricate it.

Thanks!

 

[Seajet]

Zetorpilot,

I don't know how long you've had your boat, but be a little wary if the keel is 'stiffer than last year'...

My 3/4" mild steel keel platewas galvanized originally in 1977, but the galvanizing scrapes off against the grp casing in time.

I and a few other examples have had to fit new keel plates after corrosion became too severe, and I know a few others who have had problems with rust flakes causing the keel to stick, not dropping fully despite the 900lb ballast bulb.

Sometimes running a flat blade down the side of the keel from inside helps, but the only real solution is to winter the boat on high trestles, allowing full access to the lowered plate for maintenance.

I'd already done this with my boat, the trestles are easy and quite cheap to make ( they also have the benefit of placing the boat up high, out of the reach of at least casual thieves ).

However despite every steel treatment going, the original plate corroded badly.

When I found my £1,250 new plate showing signs of initial corrosion, despite being galvanized, I had a sense of humour failure and set about some research.

It seems there is a known problem of 'accelerated steel corrosion' in the Chichester - Portsmouth area; I did enlist the aid of some 'experts', who solemnly pronounced that the pitting in the steel was caused by the speed of the boat through the water !!!

After smiling politely and making a note never to employ these people, I fitted a small anode on part of the keel plate which doesn't affect the raising operation.

This works a treat, no more corrosion, and the anode ( a disc anode cut in half, faired in with filler ) disappears annually so is presumably doing its' job.

There are no electrics anywhere near the keel inside the boat, but as it works I'm happy; some people suspect the nearby marina shore power 'leaking', or the mains power supply running across a nearby bridge, which seems about right to me.

This corrosion applies to all lift keel boats of course, it's surprising how few get proper maintenance to the keel, which of course is retracted & hidden if not using high trestles for the winter.

 

[Sire]

Hi

Your accelerated steel corrosion situation sounds extremely vexing, fortunately I don't appear to have a corrosion problem. I squirted some CRC 5-56 penetrating oil up in the hinge bolt area, where the keel fits between two s/s members that the previous owner added to stop noise from lateral free play. After this I then found the real cause. The keel rope knot is binding against the inside of the keel case at the top of its travel.

I wondered if this could be caused by distortion following the cradle moving due to frost heave, but the side supports aren't pressing at all hard on the hull and there is no obvious other problem. Nevertheless the keel plate is off to one side at the rear by 3/8" or so, enough for the knot to bind. I'm 99% sure that it wasn't like this last autumn. Anyway it seems at this point to be a minor issue, the keel will get pushed right the way in when the boat is on its trailer but I'm sure it will come down again once the boat is in the water. Once the keel is down 2" or so the binding effect goes away completely.

 

[ProDave]

Lifting keels seem to come in many shapes and sizes with all sorts of ways of raising and lowering them.

Mine is wound up and down by a stainless steel wire, wound up by a nut sliding on a screw thread, about 50 turns of the handle to raise or lower the keel. If you are interested I had a thread about it here http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265329 last year when I was servicing the keel.

Don't ignore the stiffness problem, find out why. I was told when we bought our boat that the keel had been recently serviced and I only had a look out of curiosity, but found the rollers that the steel wire runs over were siezed.