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.
I was able to get a mooring ball for the summer on my local reservoir. This is the first season I've done this, should I leave the keel down, or pull it up? The boat came to me with a bottom job, quite worn, it will be interesting to see what kind of growth I get.
I think you should leave it up to prevent movement and wear on the keel from every wave when moored. When I got my boat the pivot hole in the keel to accommodate the one inch pivot pin was worn severely and almost 2" in diameter. This allowed the keel to move back and forth almost 6 inches and severely limited the boats performance.
Leaving the keel up (fully in the recessed trunk) will eliminate excessive wear. This may also reduce growth on the recessed part of the keel that may limit the ability to fully retract the keel in the future.
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.