Lifting Keel

[Paul Weston]

Does anybody have experience of Outborn aluminium yachts with lifting keels? The keel is aluminium with a lead filled bulb at the end, which weighs several tons. The keel is driven vertically up and down by a hydraulic ram. It has locking pins at the "up" and "intermediate" positions, and several stop pins at the "down" position. My concerns are corrosion, and possibility of hydraulic failure allowing the keel to drop suddenly.

 

[TSB240]

We used to have a hydraulically operated lift keeler. Failure of a hydraulic hoses was mitigated by having a restrictor fitted at the ram . This minimised the rate of fall given pump, valve or hose failure. This assumes that the ram is a single acting ram and is filled to lift the keel. I was more concerned by failure of the connecting stainless steel wire strop which would most definitely have left a large hole in the bottom of the boat if it had failed.

 

[pvb]

Does anybody have experience of Outborn aluminium yachts with lifting keels? The keel is aluminium with a lead filled bulb at the end, which weighs several tons. The keel is driven vertically up and down by a hydraulic ram. It has locking pins at the "up" and "intermediate" positions, and several stop pins at the "down" position. My concerns are corrosion, and possibility of hydraulic failure allowing the keel to drop suddenly.

Welcome to the forums!

I hadn't heard of Outborn yachts, but had a look online. I guess you're looking at "Nereus"? Looks to be in good condition, and is rather different in lots of ways. However, as you say, the lifting keel offers lots of opportunities for things to go wrong. With something like that, you'd probably need to budget for serious checks/maintenance on the keel every 2 or 3 years - likely to be expensive. I suppose the questions are whether you need a lifting keel, and whether you need an aluminium yacht.

 

[roblpm]

Ok and my tuppence worth. I had a Parker 275 which was great and tbh I wish I hadn't sold it! However lift keels are an extra hassle for maintenance etc as you need to put them in a cradle onshore as the weight cannot be taken by the keel. Maintaining the keel is also potentially a hassle as you cant get at it. I would not have one again unless I specifically needed the functionality!

 

[Laminar Flow]

I had a 50' lifting keel cutter with a similar system as you describe. The keel weighed 5t. and the hydraulic pump was run off one of the engines and also operated the anchor winch. A check valve controlled the rate of descent. Maintenance was not a problem in the 20 years I owned her, even though the keel casing was built in hot dipped galvanized steel. I should think that an all-aluminium construction would be even easier to keep up. On shore you simply block up the boat to run out the keel for servicing.
If the boat Nereus you are looking at is in NL, I believe our friend considered buying it before settling on a Boreal, but only because he felt it was too big for single handing. He was quite impressed by her.