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Alternative Swing keel replacement

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 9:12 am
by Jonair222
Has anyone replaced the Iron keel with something else?
My keel was hauled two seasons ago and coated liberally, any yet it is already swelling in size again :evil:

Lead has a greater density and was thinking of something with a lower half of lead and wood/epoxy upper¿?¿
The lead also will not rust.

I am also interested in knowing numbers on knockdown force-- how much lighter could the keel be if the bulk of ballast was more condensed towards the bottom of keel?

My M22 seems to groan from the weight of the massive chunk below. Also because of a thinning around the bolt, it "cants" under tack resulting in a truely disturbing crunch. I fear if i shim it out it will swell and get near impossibly stuck as it was before.

It's a 34 y/o boat so I am not going to be too harsh. But can you imagine how much more reliable at the cost of a few recycled car batteries?

Re: Alternative Swing keel replacement

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:29 am
by Ezra_BWY
Can't say anything in regards to the replacement of the keel, but the issue with the keel clunking over to the side when the boat is heeled is standard and intentional. The hole in the keel was always a bit bigger than the bolt to allow for this action, the idea being to take force off of the bolt. If it was a tight fit and it was not allowed to flop over against the boat it would be a tremendous amount of force on the head of the keel and the bolt.

Re: Alternative Swing keel replacement

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:30 am
by Jonair222
That makes complete logical sense Ezra.
Ok so what about this: Filling the void between the bolt/trunk and keel with Expandable Foam.
Spray a little oil on the keel, roll it up, spray foam into trunk from below.
Excess can be cut away or will crush down?
Might help reduce splashing an leaks too.
Gonna give it a go and report results.

Laying a new keel may have to wait until next winter.

Re: Alternative Swing keel replacement

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:15 am
by fritz3000g
Speaking splashing, has anyone found a good solution to prevent water from splashing into the boat from the area near the keel when heeled with a heavy crew?

Re: Alternative Swing keel replacement

Posted: Sun May 10, 2020 7:21 am
by MBertin
Hi team,
Did you mean water Is coming from the keel pivot bolt? In such case, my venture 25 has 2 rubber seal between the pivot bolt and the boat surface. Also to reduce the lateral movement, i created a teflon disk of 0.100 inch thick and diameter of 5 inches that i slide between the keel and the boat wall.
Marc,