Sirenia's keel

CliveG

CliveG

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Sirenia\'s keel

I am on the scrounge.

I have decided that I have got to get Sirenia's keel out of the keel box to make a good repair to the box.
The 9 bolts holding the top block to the main keel casting have badly rusted away and need changing anyway.
I will grind these off.
I do not fancy trying to get the keel into the cabin.
To much weight to be playing with in a confined space.

So to get it out I need to lift Sirenia off the keel.
This involves a vertical lift of some 4 ft.
I am intending to construct a scaffold frame over her and lift her with 4 2tonne chain hoists.

Now the reason for the post.
Has anyone got any 2 tonne chain hoists I could borrow?
Has anyone got a couple of 2 tonne plus 4m long webbing lift slings?

I think that I can borrow enough scaffolding.
(I work in the building industry)
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

Clive, cant help with the gear but shout if you need some pulling power .......... as it were.
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

How heavy is she? What are you going to use as a gantry to left her up? I have quite a few webbing truckers tie downs (10 ton rating) You can always left her inch by inch and secure her at each stage with the slings. Even a two ton trolley jack bow and stern could left her 6 inches at a time, with support in slings while you reset the jack. I rolled my current boat upright in her cradle with careful use of a trolley jack! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

Clive,
the boat weighs less than a Bentley, with a better weight distribution. You should be able to jack it up slowly and chock it using railway sleepers, Acrows and Oil drums, using a forrward then aft lift technique.
I could do that entire exercise (given time) with a 2 tonne trolley jack, as James rightly points out.

Now, where did I put all those chocks?

PS I have a fully transportable folding, adjustable cradle from Tennamast which you can borrow for as long as you like. I fitted it in my little Chevrolet Lacetti estate. That would do the trick of supporting it during adjusting height.
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

Thanks for the suggestions.
I have had more of a look round at work and have found that the covered area outside the vehicle workshops is a substantial steel frame structure with beams that I can get strops round 5m above ground level.
We have a lot of strops in the stores.

I can get Sirenia in there on her trailer.

Just need the chain hoists now.
Going to talk to the local hire co. that we do a lot of business with.
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

An update.

I have managed to get some of the bolts holding the top of the keel on to undo.
They look like they were some sort of cap bolt.
I cut the head of one and was grinding away a bit of it that was stopping the washer from coming off when it started to unscrew.
I then set about the other bolts with a cold chisel and club hammer.
I persuaded 6 of them to come lose in the end.
I have had to cut the heads of 2 more.
So the top section is off the keel and it is ready to drop out of the boat.
I have brought a couple of 5m straps via e-bay.
I just need to talk to the nice folk at the place Sailorman talks of and we will be ready for a lift next weekend.

With a friend I have been looking at the Beta Engine.
It all looks o.k.
When we stripped the engine, we tested the starter motor and it worked o.k.
Put it all back together the other evening and would the starter go.
NO IT WOULDN'T /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I have now had a go at it and it is working at the moment.
We will introduce it to the engine again tomorrow and hope that it all works.
 
Re: Sirenia\'s keel

Further update

We have reintroduced the starter motor to the Beta 10 and have successfully started and run the engine for 15 minutes.

RESULT /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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