Swing Keel and Pocket

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:39 pm

It's me again.

My swing keel is stuckup. Not only that, but it's also shy and doesn't want to come out of the keel pocket. I've already dislodged one surprisingly large colony of oysters from between the keel and the pocket on both sides of the keel. After two and a half weeks out of the water, there were even two wet ones. Unfortunately, near the keel pin bracket, It looks like the keel has been welded to the bracket and pocket. I say looks like, because I have been able to chip away at some of it. It is like hard packed silt mixed with glue. I have almost chipped away at all of it I can reach, but the keel still won't swing free. If a pressure washer won't finish the job and free the keel, how much trouble is it to access the top of the keel pocket? As long as the top of the keel pocket isn't buried in ballast and foam, I'm not afraid of having to rebuild it. Anyone have any better ideas?

Here are three pictures of the keel and keel pocket so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about:

Not the sharpest picture.

It is almost like the keel is welded to the keel pin bracket.

I have chipped away at some of the junk in this photo.

Darin

Banshi · Post by **Banshi** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:00 am

Cut the keel bolt and drop the whole thing out. Expanding rust has probably wedged it in there tight but cutting the bolt and then some gentle tapping of a sledge hammer on the side should vibrate it loose. I have just gone through this myself and should be putting the refurbished keel back into the cleaned up pocket. Just be careful that thing is nothing less than a giant guillotine. Mine weighs in at 900 lbs or so, yours is quite a bit heavier. I believe somebody here has some pictures of this being done on a 26.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:10 am

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:20 pm

That's not encouraging. I was hoping that it was silt not the keel swelling. How do you correct this condition/refurbish the keel?

Darin

askme233 · Post by **askme233** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:45 pm

Just a newbie here, but I would get crazy with all kinds of implements of destruction and a crowbar before thinking about dropping the keel. From some of the other pics, it looks like a lot of work you could be better off avoiding. Could be just the keel line jammed into the side if the keel got put up (e.g. by a trailer bed) without all of the line being taken up.

I did see one site that had a detailed diagram for a keel dolly that dropped the keel ad allowed you to roll it around and then jack it back into place, but you had to build it first.

Edit: found the Keel-o-matic http://www.dcwi.com/~nybarra/keel.html

Bhacurly · Post by **Bhacurly** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:52 am

Dang,

That does look pretty knarly. I would agree it needs to be dropped and done up right, at least you'll know whats going on and hopefully prevent having the "Bath" issues seen on a couple the other posts on here...

Good luck!
Billy

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:37 am

With much scraping, banging, and prying, we were able to free up the keel and get it moving. The keel bracket looks solid, there is no wobble in the keel movement, so it looks like I get to miss out on the adventure of replacing it.

The keel itself is rusted and covered with oysters. We're going to strip it down. What primer/paint do we need to use? We plan on having the boat in the water most of the time.

Darin

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:41 pm

Oysters......Mmmmmmmm. Sorry, got distracted there.

I'm not much help in doing this the right way. I chipped and ground all the stuff of EE's keel to a reasonable end, then sprayed on a coat of the stuff that turns rust into a hardened primer, can't recall the name. After that it was antifouling bottom paint.

Not the right way to fair and complete it I know, but after 2 years I wasn't in the mood to be perfect on it that day.

keysskipper · Post by **keysskipper** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:36 pm

makes me glad Ragtime is a fixed keel, hey partydawg other sailors on this site will have your priming method but I would use Trinidad bottom coat you will be glad you did.....unless you enjoyed your efforts to free it.
Bring it down, lets sail to Dry Tortugas before it gets to hot

KS

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:30 pm

The name of the product its Paint over rust POR.

Partydog: I'm the kind of person that likes to do something just ONCE. If I had the resources to drop the keel, get it sandblasted, reglass, and anti-fouling paint, that way I won't have that chore in the back of my head.

Gus

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:21 pm

Gus,

I don't have the resources. I'll probably strip, fair, and paint the 3/4 that I can access. At least now I know what I'm looking at and inspecting when she gets back in the water.

I guess that is the first item on the list for the 2011 refit.

Darin

STEVE ROYER · Post by **STEVE ROYER** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:40 pm

If you have a air compressor you mite want to get a portable sand blaster and a 5 gallon bucket of sand and sandblast it after scraping the big flakes of rust off. You can get a hand heald blaster at lowes or harbor freight for under $40 and a bag of sand at your hardware store.that would be the proper way of cleaning it .Im planing on doing it to mine .I have the sandblaster already.fun fun fun good luck.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:59 pm

Steve,

You can practice on mine if you want.

Darin

STEVE ROYER · Post by **STEVE ROYER** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:26 pm

no thanks . I hate sandblasting ,I only do it when i have to and not looking forward to doing mine but i want to do it rite.

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