Can anyone tell me the measurements of the nylon keel sliders which are situate on the top corners of the sliding keel, fore & aft and which are visible through the inspection hatches. They guide the keel down inside the keel box.

I am considering replacing them and may need to have new ones machined. I need to know the width, depth & height (obviously when new & not worn!). The foreward ones are different to the aft ones so I need the measurements of each.

If anyone knows of a supplier "of the shelf" or a copy of the original specification with measurements,then so much the better.

Richard Salt

Hi Richard, don't know if it's any help, but on my Parker 27, the keel is left in the initial "blank" thickness where the sliders are located, ie in my case nominally 60mm thick across the whole keel front to back, this means the sliders are just four oblongs of material the same dimensions front and back, after all, it makes sense not to make that area foil shaped as it is always encased in the keel box. Don't know where you are based but in Waterlooville near Portsmouth, there is a plastics supplier called Ensinger who you can walk into and ask to buy offcuts of various sizes and thicknesses of most types of plastic including Delrin, Acetal and PTFE for peanuts, often only a donation to the coffee fund. I doubt your keel would be any different so once you know the original thickness, you should be able to buy some offcuts of that thickness and trim to shape. I would be very surprised if they were wedge-shaped or different thicknesses, it would unnecessarily increase the production time and costs. regards Martin Watson P27-Frith

Ensinger,

Plastics Manufacturing

Waterberry Drive, Waterlooville, PO7 7XX · (023) 9224 5555

---

Morning Martin, many thanks for your helpful reply particularly the details of the supplier in Waterlooville. Unfortunately, the width of the top of the keel on my Parker 21 differs, 39mm aft and 48m foreward so the sliders have to be of different widths as the width of the keel box is uniform throughout. However, once the keel is out. the correct measurements of the sliders ascertained, the shape of the existing ones can be used as a template. Regards Richard Salt