Hello all, two questions for the price of one, if I may?

Having owned my 235 for a couple of years, due to various factors outside my control, I have only just put her on a mooring in the Exe estuary, so, first of all, keel up to keep it free of weed, or down to keep her straight in the strong current? Currently the keel is up with the obligatory 10cms under it, with rudder down, although she doesn't dry out.

The second question involves lifting the 6hp Tohatsu, to rest it on the plug to keep the prop clear of the water. How does everybody else do it? I just manhandled the thing, but that was hard work, and frankly dangerous. Do people make a sling and hoist off the boom, but then, as the boom doesn't extend over the motor, it will still need to be kept over the mounting board, which then complicates the matter. Is there an elegant solution I am missing?

Thanks,

Paul.

1) I would tend to leave the keel down, I believe one got blown flat in a gust on a mooring, the keel then slid out the top, and the boat inverted
2) Peter Scriven made a hoist which slotted into the two U bolts at the back of 'hole', ( they are provided for when the mast is lowered). You could probably do the same, but you cannot use the tiller when the hoist is in . I only take my engine out at the end of the season when I rig tackle to the boom
Jim Hamilton

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Yes, I'd heard about the danger of keel loss if the boat inverts, I'm thinking there must be a way of closing the top of the hole with a bolt/rod.ore even a plug which can be easily removable?

Where I moor is a very heavy weed area, so that is why I want to keep the motor and keel up for as much time as possible. I will play around with a hoist off the boom or even one off the mast crutch could work. When I get something to work I will post back here.

In the meantime all advice is welcomed.

I have a long aluminium pole (mine is 1500 x 40d with Allen A-4331 ends) , which is clipped to the secondary lift eye on the keel, and when the keel is fully down is clipped to a rope loop, which is tied to the base of the mast. So it is only a restraint when the keel is fully down, but I guess you could have a shorter pole. You might have to cut a bigger hole in the glass fibre cover plate, though recently I have completely removed this so I can see what is happening with the blocks (they tend to twist which makes it hard work to lift the keel). I like this arrangement (with the long pole) as I can see how much of the keel is down by how much of the pole sticks out above the deck. A long rope loop might work for you with the long pole.
Jim Hamilton

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Sorry, a little slow to respond here.

I think James has summarised the situation well although I believe my circumstances are somewhat different.

I am moored on a buoy in a fairly sheltered part of Poole harbour. It does not dry out, as such, but on a spring tide it can get rather shallow. As a result, I always leave the keel about halfway. The leading eyebolt has the pulley mechanism, the other I has a 5mm dynema rope on an elastic cord; the former I have looped so that I can raise the keel halfway and support with a 'bolt', protected by a piece of wood. Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but works well. When I sail, I remove the bolt and, depending on the wind, sail like that dropping the keel, if necessary, when the wind picks up. Also helps - being lazy – if I don’t need to lower/raise the keel so much.

I was not really ware about the issues of the keel movement when the boat is 'inverted' so can’t really comment. When I have lifted the keel right up out of the housing (twice) so that I could replace the eyebolts, I had to remove part of the side mechanism. But being an older boat, perhaps that is why!

Raising the engine right out of the water, I have a wooden contraption which the engine sits on. At the moment, fortunately I don’t have a problem lifting the engine. – at least no more than raising the keel. I get right over the engine and lift accordingly.

I hope to go to the boat tomorrow so will takes some pics and try to most them here.

Talk soon

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Paul, I’ve made a very nice engine hoist and support which works really well, I’ll send pictures shortly.
David (Jupiter)

Posted on behalf of John Edwards

Photo of engine arrangement

My engine hoist

Thank you all for the good ideas, especially the two hoist ideas. That will certainly give me food for thought. Since posting originally, I did experiment with a couple of rope loops around the head of the engine and just led through a block to the end of the boom. Although it did work, I was concerned that the topping lift was going to be strong enough and that the boom was too short to lift the engine straight up, however with care it was certainly easier than using pure muscle power.

With the ideas here, I can do a little more refining.

To hoist the engine I use a mini version of a double block with cam cleat and single block.
The single block is tied on the boom, the other side has a carabiner that hooks on a fixed rope loop on the engine.
I lift the engine in the sliding bracket just high enough to install the hull fairing plate and then lower the engine down to sit on the plate.

Wim
235 / 71 Caprice

Posted on behalf of John Edwards

Photo of engine arrangement

Click to View Image16 View(s)

This is brilliant, I really like this. I'm currently manually lifting my engine out of the water, giving it a clean and stowing it in the cabin. It's starting to take it's toll on me now. I may need to consider a set up like you have shown here.

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