First season with the Parker 235. Has anybody experienced a similar gear failure to this? Boat on its mooring with keel pin on the second eye of the strop (approx. 300 mm of keel) and keel lifting line with light tension through the clutch lock and winch. I assume this is normal practice. From our house, we can see the Camel Estuary (approximately 80 metres) and most of the activities on it but unfortunately we cannot see our own mooring as it is too close to the bank and trees. It was noticed by us that our local lifeboat out on training exercise came through the moorings and we heard it power up (not excessively) in close proximity to our boat. The following tide, the boat was lying on its side with the keel fully extended.

I haven’t worked out how to send a photo to the Forum but can send one by e-mail if you have any ideas. The pin has been cut through by the wire strop (like a cheese cutter) and the lower pulley has had the eye plates pulled straight out, bending the shackle pin. The 8 mm lifting line (new this year) did not fail but played no further part once the pulley block had sheared.

The boat was built in 2003 and I assume that the pin (18 mm hollow alloy) and the Barton pulley set number 5 with a seemingly sufficient breaking strain rating are standard issue or has there been any upgrade to any parts since then? I will certainly be beefing up the pin.

Any comments or advice will be most welcome.

Hi Barry,
Crikey sounds serious, interesting how the boat was lying on its side I would have thought the keel would have self stowed as it dried out.
If you would like to send me an email I could help with placing the pics into the thread...




Gary/Ruth/& Skipper the Working Cocker Spaniel
Crew of Juicy Blue P235

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Hi Barry,

Sorry to hear of your keel strop calamity. We keep Tarakihi on a swinging drying mooring at Woodbridge in Suffolk which is probably more mud than the sand in the Camel, if my memory of Padstow etc is correct. I would have thought that it would take a lot of free movement of the keel to "saw" through the pin. We haven't seen any appreciable wear in the pin on Tarakihi. However, we have changed the strop (as per the boat maintenance instructions) every two seasons along with the keel eyes (just bought some replacements eyes from BSP Sailboats recently). Our boat handbook (August 2006) says keel rope should be 10mm. Perhaps if your keel rope is only 8mm the blocks were smaller on earlier models. When the keel is raised on the mooring (1 foot protruding), we keep the rope just tensioned so if the strop should fail, there shouldn't be a shock load on the tackle. If the bottom is hard perhaps your keel moves up and down as it grounds? Or else, the estuary chop makes it bounce even when the boat is floating. We have also replaced the keel rope every 2 years. However, perhaps we should also check the tackle more carefully this year and perhaps put a sleeve on the strop eye to prevent damage to the pin...!?
Lastly, I'm not really surprised that the keel remained down once the gear had failed as I suspect once more than 1 foot or so is protruding, any grounding will almost certainly put an uneven load on the keel which would tend for it to jam in the slot - similarly, the remains of your broken blocks might also have jammed the slot.

Regards

Chris Cobb

235/48 "Tarakihi"

Hello Barry,

Sorry to hear this. The keel lifting tackle is more than adequate for the static load of the keel. I imagine the damage yours suffered was inflicted by shock loads. When the boat dries out, it needs either to be on soft mud or it needs totally calm water. If the bottom is hard, such as sand, any swell or chop will repeatedly cause the keel to be lifted in its slot a few inches and then dropped on its strop/lifting tackle. There is very little stretch in the wire strop or lifting tackle, so the shock loads on the components will be high (i.e. the forces are imparted in a short time).

If you beef up the pin, the shock experienced by the strop, lifting eye and deck will be increased.

To reduce shock loads, the strop would need to be replaced by something shock absorbing, such as one made from nylon rope - the longer, the better. However, it would still be undesirable for the keel to be bumping up and down and, in shallower water, the hull will be pounding on the unforgiving bottom too.

I know this is not what you will want to hear because it implies your mooring might be in an unsuitable position. I wish you well with resolving the problem.

Anthony Russell
235/02 Sea Wyche

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Barry's Photo


and a close up of the gear on Juicy Blue


It would seem that it was the bottom block that failed as well as the cross pin. I guess the pin failed in the first place.
I will be replacing our Pin with something more resilient and as for the block...well I guess as mentioned in a previous thread it could not stand up to the pounding up and down of the keel movement on the seabed and perhaps the keel would be better raised inside the casing when drying out on sand..mud would of course be a more gentle landing...just my opinion. I to would be interested in what anyone else may contribute to this unfortunate event.
Thanks Barry for posting.

Gary/Ruth/& Skipper the Working Cocker Spaniel
Crew of Juicy Blue P235

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