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The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I saw a video where the C22 has a lock for its swing keel (lock down position) for rougher water than you would typically take a C22--or, probably, a C25. My question is: does the C25 with SK have such a mechanism, and where is it? On the C22, it is beneath a forward seat in the galley.
Catalina didn't offer it on the C-25. I'm guessing the C-22 lock is to prevent the keel from swinging into the trunk on a broach, which would reduce its righting moment. I believe this is much more likely on a C-22 than a C-25, for reasons of its hull shape and keel weight. My concern, particularly on a 5000 lb. C-25, would be if you hit something with a locked swing keel, something will break, but what? I'm also guessing the weight of the C-25 keel (about triple the C-22's) might cause enough contact with the hull and trunk in a knockdown that it won't swing up until the boat is virtually turned turtle, when it won't matter much either way. But you know what guesses are worth...
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Thanks Dave, for the explanation. They sound like educated guesses, and although I've broached or turned Lidos and Lasers turtle numerous times, both boats together don't add up to 1/2 the weight of the swing keel in a C-25! So let's just make sure that doesn't ever happen; however, I wonder if inspecting the SK mechanism every other year or so is prudent maintenance? A friend's boat just popped one of the swage points on his SK, and he later learned he (who did the maintenance himself) had been inadvertently sold a Zinc, rather than Stainless Steel, swage. Did some damage to the hull when it popped, luckily it was above the waterline, and he had a time fixing the break, including a dive in muddy water.
The only case I've heard of a C-25 capsizing to the point of sinking (which of course it could do when a Laser can't) was when one was loaded with something like 14 drunken yahoos on a lake in Colorado at night. I still don't know how they did it, unless maybe (in part) it was a swing keel that hadn't been lowered. Many folks have had green water over the C-25's coamings and spreaders in or nearly in the water and had the boat right itself without incident. C-22s, not so much. But neither boat is designed for sailing out of reach of shelter in the event of a big storm on big water. They are "coastal cruisers." The biggest vulnerability I see on the C-25 is the port-side cockpit locker ("the dumpster"), which is open to the bilge. If you broached onto your port side and the hatch fell open, things could "go south."
Swing keel owners here, particularly those sailing in salt water, will recommend annual inspection of the cable and routine replacement on some multi-year schedule. (I won't suggest a number.) Catalina Direct has what you need, and won't sell you zinc swages! Keel falls have damaged many hulls and keel trunks--in a few cases when the lowered keel struck an object, lifted over it, and then fell on the other side.
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.