When I tried to lift the keel yesterday, after a few turns on the winch, it jammed. And now it won't go up or down.

The rope's not tangled and hasn't come off the sheaves. At the moment I have a couple of theories:

1. There was a rope or something caught around the keel, which has got pulled up into the case.

2. Maybe one of the plastic stopping blocks has broken and jammed.

Haven't had any problems before, and I'd lifted the keel the previous day. I'd spent the day sailing with it down, in light winds but a bumpy sea.

I'm about to go and dive underneath to see if the problem's obvious. If not, I'm considering careening Dawn - drying out with the keel down, tipping her on her side as she dries. But will she fill with water as she refloats?

Unfortunately, there's no crane available locally. She's on a non-drying mooring at the moment, but can't stay there for long.

Geoff

Parker 21 / 18 Dawn

Problem solved.

Diving underneath showed there wasn't anything caught in the case, but I noticed that the keel was hard against the front stop, with a bit of a gap at the rear. So I tied a rope around the lower part of the keel and took it via the stern quarters to the sheet winches. After putting some tension on and then releasing it a few times, the keel freed up. Along with most of a can of WD40 sprayed inside the case.

What I think happened is that the rear slide stuck - either lack of lubrication, or maybe some foreign object - then putting lots of tension on the uphaul pulled the keel forward, jamming the front slide as well.

I'll be a bit more regular lubricating the keel slides in future. I use a teflon spray - what do others use?




Geoff

Parker 21 / 18 Dawn

Geoff

I remember asking about how best to lubricate the keel sliders in the past but didn't get a response. Parkers at the time advised against grease as it collects grit and turns into very good sandpaper. I should think that Teflon spray is the best bet.

Another bit of advice from Parkers that I was not sure about was what to do about the front roller. Mine has a flat spot. I was advised not to worry about it as the keel will still slide OK and the roller will only jam up with debris anyway. What do others think? If anyone has replaced a roller where can I get one?

Terry Gates
"Kitty" P21 No. 99

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I have greased the slides every year. I have no evidence that this has helped or hindered raising the keel, except that 2 years ago I replaced the lifting blocks with ball bearing blocks, it made lifting the keel easier but I still had to use the winch. Geoff says that with ball bearing blocks he can lift his keel by hand. I have put that down to him being stronger than me, but it could be my use of grease.

I think I have commented in another post about finding my front roller totally jammed and with a large flat. The keel was obviously sliding over it. The roller was jammed because it was clearly too big for the stainless fitting - possibly because it was made from nylon and nylon expands in water. I machined a small roller, from nylon and replaced it. Interestingly, the keel was not noticeably easier to raise. I'll check if the roller is still rotating when I lift the boat our shortly.