Swing keel sit on trailer????

[tjfmmaes]

Hi

A friend of mine has an Argo 680 yacht with a swing keel. (see Argo Yacht Info for more information on the yacht itself) It has now been taken out for the first time and put on its brand new trailer, provided by the importer in Switzerland. He (my friend) is not very happy as it seems that the swing keel, which is now completely winched up to horizontal position, is actually resting on the keelplate of the trailer and appears to be actually bearing some of the hull load. This obviously puts pressure on the pivot axle and the internal box structure in which the keel sits. My question is 2 -fold: 1) is this situation indeed wrong? i.e. should the swing keel be taking some of the load or not and 2) if it is wrong, what is the correct way? Should there be some daylight between keel and trailer or just some rubber padding to stop vibration or what?

Any help would be greatly appreciated by my friend and me.

Thanks

Tom

 

[oldsaltoz]

Sounds like the trailer rollers or pads need adjusting, any weight on the keel box can not be good.

Have you taken a picture and sent this question to the supplier?

 

[fireball]

It may be made to sit on the keel - after all, this is likely to happen if you dryout in it....

 

[Bill1]

Only my experience but I have always thought there should be a gap between the keel slot and the trailer. After recovery I lower the keel onto a wooden block to transfer its weight directly to the trailer instead of via the hull.

 

[graham]

I couldnt get the link to work in your post ,this link should go to. Argo Marine

I would contact them and ask what is normal.My lifting keel is designed to support the weight of the boat on a trailer or beached.It would be difficult to assess if the Argo is designed to do the same or not.

The Argo 680 looks a fast little boat,should be a lot of fun to sail.

My Anderson dried out on her lifting keel.

 

[davidwf]

my Beneteau 21.7 sits on its swing keel on its trailer, the pads don't take much weight at all. I would prefer the weight to be taken through the keel rather than on the pads.

 

[Boatmik]

[ QUOTE ]
Only my experience but I have always thought there should be a gap between the keel slot and the trailer. After recovery I lower the keel onto a wooden block to transfer its weight directly to the trailer instead of via the hull.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is a different problem I think...but

This is a very wise idea. Often it is asking a lot of the keel lifting apparatus to hold the keel up when the boat is on the trailer and bouncing around at highway speeds.

Best wishes
Michael Storer

 

[William_H]

My thought is that the front of the keel when retracted should not be proud of the hull (or stub keel). You would not want pressure pushing the keel up against the pivot bolt. This assuming the boat sat on a flat surface.
Naturally there should not be any pressure on the keel taking the hull weight.
He needs to check that the keel is fully retracted and there are no rocks in the case or shellfish.
It may well be a boat problem rather than trailer problem.
I would imagine that the trailer rollers that are providing this pressure on the centre board are really meant to put pressure on the hull either side of the keel slot. This is the best place to support the boat.

Just last week I helped a friend put a 21fter with swing keel on the trailer. He said the keel was up but the boat would not winch into the trailer. A duck underneath with mask and snorkel showed a huge mass of mussels and barnacles and the keel still sticking out about a foot at the back. The c/b had to be scraped and the slot cleaned with a long screw driver before it would retract. He had antifouled the hull but not the centreboard. (being an Englishman he was not much of a one for getting under the baot to clean it.) (warm water = rampant fouling growth).
good luck olewill