I have a damage on my keel that makes me a bit confused.

Last summer the keel got stuck halfway down when I lowered it. Several attempts to raise it and lower it again did not help. Finally we went into a marina, used a crane to raise the top of the keel out of the box but could not see any obvious reason to why it should get stuck. When we lowered it again it went all the way down.

When I put the boat ashore for the winter I noticed that the keel had went lower than it had before. I have, as did the previous owner, used black antifouling paint. So it was evident that the keel was about 15cm lower. But it looks like this is the way it should be. Except that there is a damage in the rear end of the keel. And there is an area around the damage where the keel is not covered with the coppercladding. Seems very strange to me. It is almost as if something has been fastened around the keel. Something that has stopped it from going lower. But why put a stop only at the rear end?

I'll try to include a photo.

Regards,

Ola

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As you can see the white area has not been covered by copper cladding.

/Ola

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I have just put my P27/136 keel back after the winter and have had a look at it.

The keel is rectangular at the top and has four nylon guides bolted to it. This is the part which stops it falling out. The keel box on the boat is rectanuglar all the way down to the bottom, where the hole through the hull is foil shaped to match the keel shape. this is where the stopping is done.

There are two nylon bushes fitted underneath into the hull at the front and back of the hull slot to help absorb any shock loads from grounding.

From your pictures it looks like a previous grounding had damaged the back of the keel - and maybe the hull back nylon bush has been damaged or displaced then fallen out? - thus preventing the keel going down until you pulled the keel out ?

Is it possible to lift the keen out on the boat again then you can have a close look at the keel box from the top and underneath?

For what it is worth I do not use any lubrication on the keel or box as previous experience is that grease just goes sticky and makes things worse - especially as we get mud in the bottom of the slot as we dry out each tide.

Another mod to consider is fitting a second wheel in the top of the keel and a additional deck mounted block on the keel box with the dead end of the keel rope fixed in the keel box. This provides additional purchase and makes lifting the keel much easier.

Cheers

Chris

There is indeed two nylon bushes in the hull and the aft might have had a blow to it. I have looked at it before but my guess was that the initial mounting of it had been a bit sloppy. So probably an earlier grounding. It still puzzles me that there is an area not covered by the copper cladding though. It is not possible for me to lift the keel at the moment but I will try to make an arrangement for it later. First I will fix the visible damage.

Regards,

Ola

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could it be as simple as the keel uphaul rope was not long enough to drop the keen right down?

Chris

Well, one should never rule out the simplest explanation, but usually I lower the keel until there is no tension in the uphaul. So I don´t think so. But the keel does not move very easily in the keelbox. Although I never have tried to just drop it I haven´t got the feeling that the drop would be very fast. So I don´t think it would take very much to stop the keel when it is almost fully lowered.

I have bought epoxi to repair the damage but it is still to cold here for it to cure properly. I will have to wait a week or two.

/Ola

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