MacGregorSailors.com

So was out sailing last firday, it was a long night. amoung other things like sending my cell phone to the bottom of the lake, never to be seen again, and running out of gas, and the sun setting on us, and calling the local police to see if they would liek to help(they didn't)..... wait what was I talking about ? oh yea, keel. So it appears my keel has chosen again to remain in its cozy housing, rather then risk coming out and helping my sail. I will be puling it out next time I am out at the boat, but wanted to ask if anyone has any ideas. I have had a lot of trouble with the keel, and would like to try some new stuck rather then just pulling and replacing all the time.

I was thinking of installing a "plug" at the rear of the housing, so that in cases like these I can open the plug, and jam a broom handle in to it to push the keel down. I also debated if adding weight to the end of it my help as well.


grrrr...


any thoughts?

I would think the worst thing you could do it cut a hole in the bottom of your boat.

oh, I forgot to mention, last time I had it out, I sanded off a goodly amount of the "width" of it, because there was too much friction in the truck for it. - I never repaint the fibreglass- do you know it fibreglass can swell when in contact with water?

Did you make sure that the centerboard still fills up with water as it is intended to?

How did you call the local police with your cell phone at the bottom of the lake?

Our (Windchime) has the same temperament, sometimes she just does not like to get her keel wet , and who can blame her, this Pacific water is pretty cold . Actually most of the time it is just eel grass wedged in the keel well.

Here is an option we use to force the keel down.

We have a collapsible tent pole that can be pushed down the compression post onto the top (aft) side of the keel. The pole only needs to be about six or seven feet long, and narrow enough to go down the compression post with the keel line still attached. This works because the compression post is positioned behind the keel swivel bracket folcrum.

I would try this first before cutting a plug hole

Mine always comes down......eventually, depends on forward movement, if I am stationary it comes down straight away but even if moving slowly forward it is very lethargic to get moving but once about half way down it swings right in to place. I consider this normal when i think about the mechanics at play. If however it doesnt come down at all then pushing it down may get you out of trouble but I would want to find the reason for it because I am confident that Roger intended it to come down every time when he designed it, and that's what should happen.

Cheers, Dennis.

Consider the knot at the end of the keel line.

About four years ago I pulled the keel out of my X . When I replaced it, I tied a stopper knot on the keel line and my keel began to stick up or deploy very slowly. I crawled under in the driveway and could see that the stopper knot was binding, but a simple overhand knot did not seem secure. I called the factory and was told to use just an overhand knot, just like the factory installation. I retied and have had no problem with the keel sticking since, and the knot is still holding.

Harvey

so we pulled the keel, and it turns out ( as best as we can tell) the issue was small wood bits taht were stuck in the tight area between the board and truck (aka to the side).

the wood splinters were quite small, but there were a ton of them, .. wiped off board, and trunk, ... seems to work now, will up date later, if there is more issues, but it seems this is the cause this time.

Wind Chime wrote:Our (Windchime) has the same temperament, sometimes she just does not like to get her keel wet , and who can blame her, this Pacific water is pretty cold . Actually most of the time it is just eel grass wedged in the keel well.

Here is an option we use to force the keel down.

We have a collapsible tent pole that can be pushed down the compression post onto the top (aft) side of the keel. The pole only needs to be about six or seven feet long, and narrow enough to go down the compression post with the keel line still attached. This works because the compression post is positioned behind the keel swivel bracket folcrum.

I would try this first before cutting a plug hole

Hey...my centerboard is stuck too...I'll bet from sand or something from 2 weekends ago. That's a great idea...just stick a rod or something down the hole that the steel cable to lift the centerboard goes down. I'm away from my boat...do you happen to know what the biggest diameter rod that will work?

Dave

So, I found this pic on a centerboard mods post. Looks like there may already be a plate that could be removed to push a stuck centerboard down (look on the far right where he's mounted a Harken block)? Or was that part of the mod?

Dave

So, I picked up a 1/2" diameter drain snake...it's essentially a tightly wound steel spring, if you've ever seen one. I've cut an 8 foot section of this. I'm guessing here, but that compression post looks like it's somewhere around a 1" diameter, so I'll bet this 1/2" diameter drain snake will slide right down the hole in the cabin top where the centerboard line goes down. Since it's tightly wound, I should be able to push with it (just like it's a solid rod), but then I can just roll the thing up and stick it in a corner of the boat for next time.

What do you guys think? I *think* this should work nicely.

Dave

We had a centerboard truck on our Aquarius 23. I agree that a hole in the boat is a very bad thing but in the case of the trunk we did put a hole in the top rear corner, a round hole about 2 inches, and put a round threaded fitting in the hole with fiberglass matting and resin. We installed a gusher hand pump right below that and also an electric Rule bilge pump. Both pumps had hoses so they could be connected to the 2 inch threaded fitting. The stock Aquarius 23 had NO through hull fittings at all - not even a sink drain.

We always kept that hole plugged with a threaded plug and never bothered with it because we never had a situation where we were taking on water and needed to pump bilge, BUT! One day after beaching in the mud the centerboard would not go down!!

So we just opened the little fitting (removed the threaded plug) and stuck the boat hook handle in there and shoved the board down! Worked great.

A threaded fitting with a threaded plug sounds like the best way to go IF you're going to drill a hole in the trunk. I'll have to look next time I'm on the boat, but I *think* the top of the trunk is the same height as the air valve and 2nd ballast tank valve that is under the step in the cabin...which would mean it's at least a couple inches above the waterline, if I'm not mistaken. If that's correct, there should be no water pressure on it at all...unless the boat is seriously over-loaded weight-wise.

If all else fails, I do have a 3/4" fitting with a 1/2" plug and some sealant in my vehicle for the next trip down.

Cheers,
Dave