I have recently purchased a 235 having previously owned Super Seal and Parker 27
I find the keel very hard to raise much harder than Seal & 27
Has anyone any ideas how to lessen the load.
Has anyone experience of Winchrite?

Hi Norman,

I have no experience of the Seal and 21 so can’t really comment. Ditto Winchrite

Raising the keel my 235 is not the easiest of experiences – in fact when it is out of water and the boat yard lift so I can antifoul the keel – it is really hard work.

At this stage I usually slap loads of marine grease on the leading edge of the keel then once in the water, using a brush taped to a stick, yet more. Also, I make sure that the roller is free. This seems to help but who knows!

Wonder if anybody else has a similar problem/solution?

Regards

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Thanks John, obviously a design fault, what we are going to try is replacing the pulleys with a 4&3 to see if that makes it any easier.
I have spoken to the Winchrite guys who said that they have supplied in past for PARKER keels.

It is hard but manageable, I get my weight directly over the winch (lowering the spray hood) and do it with a rest in the middle. Planning to replace the top block with a Barton size 4/5 triple ball race block, (the rope got caught between the pulley and the block sides, damaging the old block). Hoping that will make it easier. It might be worth checking the blocks and the run of the ropes, in case something similar has happened to you.

Peter Scrivens has a system with an electric drill to raise the keel, but don't know how effective it is.

I have not found it necessary to continuously grease the blocks or sliders, however my boat is kept out of water so that might make a difference. I also replace the lifting eyes in the keel top fairly regularly (2 to 3 years).

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Thanks James, better start going to the gym again.

Hi Norman,

We had the same problem this year so we serviced our winches (cleaned off old grease, new pawls and re-grease). We have Antal self-tailers and found the one used for the keel was quite worn on the drum internally. The boat is now about 12 years old so perhaps this is to be expected, probably as it hasn't ever been serviced before! We also swapped over the winches so that the one used before only for the jib sheet is now used for the keel. Additionally, we washed (with fresh water) all the blocks we could see. Our yard said that under no circumstances the ball-race blocks should be oiled or greased. The result was that it is now considerably easier to raise the keel, especially when the boat is afloat and is lubricated by water. We also have a winch handle that is geared known as an "easy winch handle" and this gives quite a reduction in effort, if not time lifting. Unfortunately, this miracle of engineering is no longer made. So if it ever fails we will been to find an alternative or change the boat! Practical Boat Owner had an article recently on powered winch handles but can't remember if the Winchrite was one reviewed.


Regards


Chris Cobb

235/48
Tarakihi

Hi Chris,

Thanks for reply.

We have modified the pulley arrangement by having 3&4, we have yet to try it in water but we have had a pallet made which allows us to lift the boat to a height of 5 feet thus allowing us to raise and lower keel and it now much easier than with the 2&3.

If you would like to see pictures of boat on pallet, drop me an email on njr90@hotmail.com

Regards Norman Robertson

Hi Norman
General feeling now is not to grease the keel box as this dries out and attracts dirt which makes the keel raising stiff. What I do is to leave the keel dry but spray silicone lubricant down the box. This can be obtained from builders merchants and is used when assembling plastic drainpipes. Also obtain the longest winch handle and like Jim says, take a rest half way! There was a reduction gearbox which used a battery drill but this is no longer made. However we are looking into something similar but this is still at the development stage

We too struggle (Sunshine #66) and our solution was to extend the winch handle so we have more leverage - better but still quite hard work. Also learnt not to do it when moving.

Last week I met a Super Seal having repairs in Yarmouth that had included a new keel. The owner told me that the "keel" is really no more than a fibre glass centre board.

The 235 keel on the other hand is an iron casting which (according to my user manual) weighs 310kg. The simple answer might then be that the 235 keel is much heavier ?

On the other hand I can raise the keel on Juicy Blue (my second 235) with one hand using a normal length winch handle. The keel on my previous 235 needed a long handle, both hands and a rest half way. The previous owner of Jucy Blue had replaced all the lifting tackle.

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