Houston this is Vol-au-vent. We have lift keel.
Some weeks after our electric winch failure, we are back in action having reverted to manual lifting. I re-installed the original stainless steel bridge over the keel and started to replace all blocks with Barton ball raced blocks. Here's my parts list:
- 15320 triple block, size 5, reverse shackle
- 15220 double block, size 5, reverse shackle
- 14150 upright bock, size 4
- 15180 single variloc block, size 5, * 2
- 12.5m 10mm dyneema rope
Notes: [1] 'reverse shackle' means a shackle can be rotated 90 degrees if required. [2] the size 4 upright block is as big as they come. [3] Variloc means the attachment can be rotated and set at a variety of angles, or swivel freely. [4] The upright block is the one that sits on the stainless steel bridge. Our original arrangement was a size 3 block.
I am pleased with the result so far but as always, nothing was straightforward so let me tell the tale.
GETTING THE BLOCKS
None of the blocks were in stock at any local chandlers, mostly stocking only up to size 4, so I ordered them from Whitstable Marine as they are very close to Bartons. It seems that Barton is having some production problems and my order was still not shipped after waiting for two weeks. With the boat out of action in mid summer, I called Barton to see if anything could be done to accelerate delivery of the main items - the double and triple block. With the most wonderful customer service I could imagine, Barton reported that they had one part ready and then called me back after talking with their production manager who kindly promised to make up the other block by noon next day. Whitstable Marine kindly drove to Bartons the next day and just after that Mrs S called in en-route to visit family in Maidstone.
ROPE TRICK
Armed with the double and triple blocks, my plan was to fit those and re-use the old bridge block and single blocks, renewing them later when available. Our manual says the keel rope should be 12mm but this diameter rope hardly fitted through bridge upright block. It rubbed more on the cheeks of the block than on the sheave. How had this worked before? We could not find any bridge upright block to fit 12mm rope. We tried at "The Barge" chandlery which stocks tons of used bits and pieces. We found a combination of stainless garage and old pulley which may work in future. On calling in at another chandlery to get the rope, we were advised that 10mm dyneema would be more than adequate.
This triggered a long discussion. The proprietor was very knowledgeable in rope work. He eloquently and convincingly maintained that:
- ball raced blocks were really designed to pay out quickly, not for easy pulling in
- the balls would distort under load
- a solid spindle was just as good as bearings
- two triple blocks with no ball race, with fiddle and becket would be perfectly friction-free.
The problem is that this is what we started with years ago and I know it is hard work winding up with this arrangement. We bought our rope and a ball raced size 3 upright (same size as before but now ball raced and happy to fit the 10mm dyneema). Incidentally, the old upright block had worn to the extent of having an elliptical centre.
CHOCKS AWAY
Back at the boat, the keel was up, hanging on the safety/parking strop. The keel cover was off, with the parking strop bar wedged between two temporary blocks of wood straddling the keel. This meant we had good access to the top of the keel and there was no need to dry out or crane out to make the changes. With help from friends, we refitted the stainless steel hanger and threaded the pulleys using the same method prescribed by Tim from Speedwell. Instead of having a stopper knot through the keel box roof, I used another block of wood as a temporary measure until everything looked right. The main snag was the upright pulley. Even though it was the same brand and size as the original, the mounting holes have changed over time. We eventually managed to drill new holes in the mounting plates. In no time at all, we wound up the keep on the new arrangement, removed the parking strop, lowered the keel to 1/3 depth and then wound it back up. Marvellous! The only other snag is that the new dyneema slips through our old and worn rope clutches. The next job is to replace them.
DO THE TWIST
Before I fit the keel box cover, I need to remove about 30 degrees of twist from the pulleys. This is induced as the keel eye bold is not at right angles to the lifting block. This is my next job to tackle. I am wondering if the keel eye will object to being eased by these 30 degrees. It can't twist out with the shackle attached so it is just a measure of losing a smidgeon of thread to thread contact. Advice anybody?
ELECTRIFYING STUFF
The plan was to then fit a larger, size 40, winch to the roof, replacing our size 16. I know that John Dinwiddie has a powered winch but not which size. We'll see how we get on with manual winding first then decide what is next.
HANGING AROUND
Our parking/safety strop has single loop on it to hold the keel fully up. I am sure I have seen another P275 with a second strop half way down. If we adopted this technique, we could peg the keel up, half down or fully down and at each point the ball-raced pulleys would not be left under tension for any length of time. This would be perfect.
To be continued....
Ken Surplice
Commodore