In the spring I was preparing Beeline for launching and tipped a pot of grease down the keel box to see if it helped. To my delight my keel now slips up and down far more easily and with less effort. I just wish I had thought of this ten years ago! It was thick underwater grease applied to the walls of the box and has obviously lubricated the whole system. Do try it!

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Hi Kate,

How interesting and good timing. Last weekend at a rally in the Solent, Peter from Sophia tried winding up my keel. I did suggest making this a permanent arrangement but he declined my offer 😉. He found that winching up on my arrangement with a modest size 16 winch was much easier than on his with a much larger winch. I think Sophia has the original block and tackle arrangement, not the modified arrangement using four and three way pulleys, described elsewhere on this forum.

Meanwhile my keel box has been grease free for some years now. I used to grease it but there was a period where it was fashionable to leave the nylon sliders to run against the fibreglass. After your experience with Beeline, I will go back to greasing the box. If I recall, it is a good idea to clean the box with Gunk (or the no name degreaser from Screwfix - great value for money) at the end of the season and then to apply a new coating of grease the following season.

Thanks for the tip - Ken

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Dear Kate and Ken

Many thanks for this - it's something I'd like to try too. We haven't added any grease to the keelbox since we bought Delphine, but it looks as though there has been some applied previously - it's all a bit sticky and rather black! Ken, when you talk about de-greasing the keel box with Gunk, do you take the keel out to do this, or leave it in - and presumably fully down? And can you be fairly specific about how you get the degreaser well down inside the box? Does the cleaning process produce a lot of contamination that it would be hard to contain if we tried to do it while Delphine is afloat?


Gilliane
Delphine Parker 275, 41

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Gilliane,

Last time I removed old grease from the keel box the boat was on land on a cradle with the keel fully down. I removed the keel box cover and stood over it. I had prepared a long garden bamboo pole with a cloth wrapped around one end and held on by cable ties. Soaking the cloth in degreaser, I then used the stick to rub it all around the keel box. As the whole operation was on land, there was no pollution of water.

I no longer have a cradle so in future my access will be limited to the upper part of the keel box. When using my newly discovered Screwfix "no nonsense degreaser" I was surprised to see that it did not leave a film on water when used. It seems to be relatively eco friendly.

Happy degreasing!
Ken

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Hi Ken, just seen your post on greasing the keel, what grease do you use?, ordinary 'motor' grease or something like Ramosol which is lanolin based and stickier but more resistant to being washed away either by seawater or when cleaning.

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Hi Martin,

http://www.keenol.co.uk/  where I see that production continues in the Netherlands and that 500g costs £13.67 and post costs £6.53. Gruebb's Ramonol is suggested as a replacement for Keenol. It comes in different grades, with the premium Ramonol advanced selling for £16 for 500g, and basic selling for £12. Take a look at http://www.marathonleisure.co.uk/shopimages/Ramonol%20Using%20the%20right%20grease%20is%20important.pdf 

Cheers!
Ken

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Kate, it's your experience we're all trying to emulate - what grease did you use, please?

Best wishes

Gilliane

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An ancient tub of Castrol Underwater Grease I inherited with the boat and use for all sorts. I hadn't thought about degreasing but why would this be needed? Is it because the grease collects in a lump and hardens? I would just smear it around again I think.

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Hi All
This has been going on so long I had forgotten about it.
On the superseal we don't have this problem, the lighter keel moves easily with water lubrication, a 4 to 1 rope purchase is enough to pull the keel up without a winch.
My only concern for those of you unfortunate to have these weighty keels is what happens when this grease gets mixed with East head or Bembridge sand, will it result in excessive wear to the nylon guides and the box itself?
Philip
rascal superseal 50