Lift keel.

[Sneaky Pete]

Has anyone got experience of changing the rubber curtain seals and the keel pennant on a lift keel saiiboat, how difficult or easy to do.

 

[neil_s]

I wouldn't say this is difficult to do, but substantial lumps of cast iron are involved and you are tampering with the stuff that keeps it all in place. You need to have your plan of action in place and work carefully. My Seal 28 has a vertically lifting ballast keel (1000 lbs) that drops down through a fixed external ballast keel. There are two wires that run in parallel between the drop keel and the screw jack that does the lifting. I have to support the drop keel with a jack from the outside so that I can remove the keel screw jack fastenings. Now you can jack the drop keel up into its slot so that the top appears above the keel case in the saloon, the keel lift screw jack lying akimbo on top. Insert safety shores - it's most likely you won't be putting it all back together the same day. Uncouple the the two lift wires from the drop keel and the keel lift jack comes free to be taken home where the wires can be changed. It's very useful if you know beforehand the size, length and end fittings of the wires! My boat doesn't have curtain seals.

 

[fredrussell]

Has anyone got experience of changing the rubber curtain seals and the keel pennant on a lift keel saiiboat, how difficult or easy to do.

What boat?

 

[Sneaky Pete]

Southerly 110. As I understand the curtain is a rubber type seal between the grounding plate and the keel it's just to stop large pieces of sea debris entering between the two.

 

[PTB]

Hi, join the Southerly Owners Association. The owners forum has everything you need to know about pennant change and the mud flaps. Brilliant info. Phil

 

[PTB]

Hi, join the Southerly Owners Association. . The owners forum has everything you need to know about pennant change and the mud flaps. If this is a general query then I can say a pennant change is pretty straightforward and many owners don't bother replacing the mud flaps. Phil

 

[Frayed Knot]

You should, of course, take advice on the suitability for your boat but when I had a 32’ lift keeler with a pivoting plate of about 170kg I changed the wire rope for dyneema. Inspected annually, it didn’t show any signs of wear for the four further years of my ownership. Previously I would find a broken strand approximately every two years.
As well as reducing the effort required to raise it, an additional benefit was that it resolved an apparent electrolytic effect to the winding mechanism.