Chrysler Sailors Forum

On our first splash when a wave would hit the boat from the side you could hear the the keel moving side to side hitting the hull. Is this normal or is there some thing that is suppose to prevent this? Thanks

Its normal, but something you can do its to lower the keel all the way down, then winch it 5 or 6 times to put some tension in the wire, that way, if another wave hits you, the keel won't come up down hard, breaking the cable and possibly making a hole in the keel trunk.

Gus

I'll try that next time out. On the last trip I put the keel all the way down then cranked it up only 1 or 2 turns.

One thing tho, if the cable its tense, it'll make the humming noise. I don't mind it, its my cheapo knot meter, once the cable starts singing, I know I'm making at least 5 knots (and when water comes out of the rudder pipe, I'm making at least 6 knots)

Gus

I don't remember where I saw it, but someone made washers out of a plastic material, cut out a "pie slice" from each and then snapped them onto the keel pin to limit the side to side freeplay.

In the cabin under the forward dinette seat there is a piece of pipe above/aft the keel pin. Inside that pipe there should be a nylon rod that pushes up against the keel to keep it from slapping around. Loosen the cap on the pipe and re shim the nylon rod so it is tight against the keel and it should eliminate your problem.

tgentry

that was me...only because when i replaced my keel brackets I noticed the wood around the tension rod was rotten so i couldnt get a good watertight seal. And at the time I thought the rod was designed to hold the keel down so I just glassed it over. This winter I will be fixing this problem the right way. For now the High Density Poly is working ok...but still slaps on occasion.

"On my boat, the "thingy" was totally rusted and froze up, the teflon plunger was broken, and on the keel trunk opposite side of this plunger, it had been scraped down to bare fiberglass from the keel rubbing on it every time the keel went up and down over the years. Also, the keel pin hole had been worn to a nice wobbly loose fit in a rusty keel... "

That was from a post from a couple years ago after I redid my keel.

I removed and filled in that silly "thingy" and put 3/16" UHMW "spacers" that center the keel and keep it there. It has held up well and still no side to side keel banging. My old website no longer exists, so here are the picts again. You can see the pie slice cut in one pict that allowed me to slip the pieces onto the keel bolt and snap them in place...

Keeping a few cranks on the cable keeps the fore and aft swinging motion down as already discussed...

Billy

IMG_6297-e by bhacurly


IMG_6295-e by bhacurly

Billy,
How did you determine the thickness for your shims?

My keel was off the boat. I measured width of keel trunk between brackets, minus width of keel, and divided by 2. It was close and needed some sanding and lube to get it to slip on.