Raising Yacht to work on swing keel.

[William_H]

Hopefully, the picture shows what I did to drop my centreplate assembly out. You can just see the centreplate leaning against the trailer.
Boat and trailer were about 2 tons.

I managed it in a day, including putting the trailer back together though I didn't half ache the next morning!

Key items were solid level ground, 2 good trolley jacks and 4 good prop stands.

Pauls's picture is interesting, although to me it was not clear how he got the cb down, and inspired me to think about a trailer design. My trailer has like asub frame carrying the springs and axle. It is clamped to the trailer frame by U bolts which makes it easy to move the axle so adjust the balance of the trailer.
It would therefor be easy to move the sub frame forward to get the axle(s) out of the way provided the main frame of the trailer had a way where rollers could be removed. You would jack up the trailer frame slide the undercarriage forward remove the necessary rollers then jack the frame as high as necessary to drop the keel. But that would all depend on design of the trailer. good luck olewill

 

[PaulHa]

I used a combination of bottle jack and wood to drop the centreplate, that is once I ground out the glass around the outside of the single holding bolt inside the boat!
I initially over thought how I would do it, but in the end it's all about letting the plate come down gently. Mine weighed 75kg by the way.

I didn't quite get enough height, but the slot was big enough to pull the plate sideways to get the last few inches out. I dropped it onto some tarp to make it easier to drag the thing away.

I had help putting it back in, initially using webbing and ratchet straps onto the trailer frame to get some height, and then using a bottle jack to get it set whilst I glassed in a tube for the new bolt. Had a bit of faffing because the boat settled on the trailer a bit whenever we climbed in!

Before you move axles etc around, make sure you mark their position on the frame!

 

[neilf39]

If you disassemble the trailer taking the axles off a twin axle one make sure they go back exactly or you could end up with horrible tyre wear if they are not in line and awful miles per gallon. On a single axle one the worst it will do is crab down the road.

 

[Seajet]

If one has the facilities of a sailing club or other crane, messing about adapting trailers can be avoided altogether; I and other Anderson owners have the boat hoisted onto home made wooden trestles every winter, this gives full access to the keel plate.

I lower the keel to rest the ballast bulb on a block of wood, rather than leave 950lb suspended all winter.

A bonus is that it puts the boat high up out of easy reach of lowlife, too.

I've tried all sorts of paint treatment on the galvanised keel plate, and the undisputed winner is Dulux Trade Metalshield; it's one -pot, but does require its' own dedicated one-pot primer.