jneale
Well-Known Member
It seems much more difficult to wind it up this year !!! Would greasing the side blocks help ?
Seal 22 centreboard
- Thread starter jneale
- Start date
Topcat47
Well-Known Member
Fouling on the blade and/or corrosion around the pivot would me my first call; then perhaps the blocks. From memory (not the most reliable source of info) the lifting keel is steel and pivots, rather than lifting like a dagger board. It's a long time since I last had a sail in one.
Seajet
...
I can't remember now if it's a pivoted or vertical plate on the Seal; I do know the two at my club sometimes suffer intrusion of mud and / or stones into the casing; dried out mud may be a strong possibility whichever way it works, as the plate goes through an exposed slot in a ballast stub on Seals.
If not mud, may well be rust build up; is there access inside the boat to poke a long thin blade type thing down alongside the keel plate ?
On the Anderson 22 - which has a different lift arrangement with the ballast bulb veed on top fairing in preventing ingress of nasties, but still lift keel - if one puts too much paint on the keel plate over winter, the keel becomes difficult to raise; so in the hopeful assumption the boat is kept high over winter and the keel plate maintained, too much paint may be your answer.
Whatever it is, be wary of straining the lift gear or that would very likely lead to much bigger problems; if the keel really won't raise and you have a drying mooring, may well be worth going into a marina if one's handy and sorting it out PDQ.
I supply plans for simple but effective high winter trestles for the Anderson members, but owners of other lift keel boats have contacted me and I send the info for free, if you need high trestles to lower the keel and get at it feel free to PM me and swap e-mail addresses and I'll send them; of course you need a club or yard with the facility to crane / hoist the boat on & off.
If not mud, may well be rust build up; is there access inside the boat to poke a long thin blade type thing down alongside the keel plate ?
On the Anderson 22 - which has a different lift arrangement with the ballast bulb veed on top fairing in preventing ingress of nasties, but still lift keel - if one puts too much paint on the keel plate over winter, the keel becomes difficult to raise; so in the hopeful assumption the boat is kept high over winter and the keel plate maintained, too much paint may be your answer.
Whatever it is, be wary of straining the lift gear or that would very likely lead to much bigger problems; if the keel really won't raise and you have a drying mooring, may well be worth going into a marina if one's handy and sorting it out PDQ.
I supply plans for simple but effective high winter trestles for the Anderson members, but owners of other lift keel boats have contacted me and I send the info for free, if you need high trestles to lower the keel and get at it feel free to PM me and swap e-mail addresses and I'll send them; of course you need a club or yard with the facility to crane / hoist the boat on & off.
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neil_s
Well-Known Member
I think the mechanism is the same as on my Seal 28.
First thing I would ask is 'Does your keel go down OK?' I have a mud mooring and my keel is prone to mud build-up in the case or occasionally, a small stone getting jammed. These can stop the keel going down, even though it weighs 1000 lbs! Usual remedy for this is a few turns of 'up' before trying 'down' again.
Next thing that comes to mind, if it does go down OK, is that the sheaves in the winch have jammed. They are bronze running on a s/s pin. They are very heavily loaded and need new grease every season to keep them going.
Has one of the lifting wires broken? This would put an unfair load on the bronze nut and make it hard to turn the handle.
I don't think greasing the keel slides will help.
First thing I would ask is 'Does your keel go down OK?' I have a mud mooring and my keel is prone to mud build-up in the case or occasionally, a small stone getting jammed. These can stop the keel going down, even though it weighs 1000 lbs! Usual remedy for this is a few turns of 'up' before trying 'down' again.
Next thing that comes to mind, if it does go down OK, is that the sheaves in the winch have jammed. They are bronze running on a s/s pin. They are very heavily loaded and need new grease every season to keep them going.
Has one of the lifting wires broken? This would put an unfair load on the bronze nut and make it hard to turn the handle.
I don't think greasing the keel slides will help.
Seajet
...
neil_s,
for info as I've forgotten - I had friends with a Seal 28 for a long time - I know Seals use a ballast stub and plate through it, but is it a pivot or daggerboard type, please ?
I seem to remember a worm drive was involved in the lift gear.
My A22 has a vertical lift keel but quite different system, but I agree if I overdo the keel paint the ' lift the keel then let it slack to jolt down a few inches ' usually gets the keel down - I'm now very careful not to overpaint the plate - also agree grease is best avoided, would probably attract all manner of shells & stones to stick to it.
for info as I've forgotten - I had friends with a Seal 28 for a long time - I know Seals use a ballast stub and plate through it, but is it a pivot or daggerboard type, please ?
I seem to remember a worm drive was involved in the lift gear.
My A22 has a vertical lift keel but quite different system, but I agree if I overdo the keel paint the ' lift the keel then let it slack to jolt down a few inches ' usually gets the keel down - I'm now very careful not to overpaint the plate - also agree grease is best avoided, would probably attract all manner of shells & stones to stick to it.
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neil_s
Well-Known Member
It's a dagger board. On the 28, it's a cast iron streamlined section that drops through the external ballast keel. On the 22, I think it's a plate with a ballast stub on the end that stays outside when lifted. The 28 is especially prone to ingress of mud and stones because the keel retracts fully - maybe the 22 is more resistant because of the outside ballast stub. The winch is a horizontal screw thread carrying a nut with two lifting wires, one on either side to balance the load. The lifting wires pass over two sets of sheaves to bring the lift towards the middle of the winch assembly, which is bolted down along the top of the keel case. It all works OK, but annual maintenance is essential for reliability. I have to confess that I've never painted the keel. It just gets a pressure wash and any high spots chipped off.
Seajet
...
Thanks for that, friends at my club had a Seal 28 ' Otaria ' and travelled far and wide in her.
Any ballast stub on the 22 must be relatively small, it hardly shows when the boats are ashore.
My Anderson 22 keel consists of a galvanised 3/4" mild steel plate, tapered aft to give a mild aerofoil section, with a 900lb cast iron ballast bulb on the end; the top of the bulb is veed so it fairs with the hull when raised, this seems to keep stuff out of the slot.
I keep the boat on high trestles with the keel down every winter, and paint it with Dulux Metalshield; I've tried every treatment going and this is the only stuff which stays on.
Cheers,
Andy
Any ballast stub on the 22 must be relatively small, it hardly shows when the boats are ashore.
My Anderson 22 keel consists of a galvanised 3/4" mild steel plate, tapered aft to give a mild aerofoil section, with a 900lb cast iron ballast bulb on the end; the top of the bulb is veed so it fairs with the hull when raised, this seems to keep stuff out of the slot.
I keep the boat on high trestles with the keel down every winter, and paint it with Dulux Metalshield; I've tried every treatment going and this is the only stuff which stays on.
Cheers,
Andy
