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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 was replacing my keel cable when I noticed that the eyebolt is not aligned properly with the keel. This is causing the cable to bend against the hull when retracted and results in a kink near the end of the cable.
Is this a common problem? Can I just take a tire iron and twist the eyebolt straight? I don't want to end up shearing it off. The [img] feature wasn't working so I linked an image below. Thanks.
I suspect an enlarged hole for the pivot bolt that allows the keel to wobble. The keel bolt by itself would be hard pressed to let the cable slide far enough to contact the hull. Sleeving the keel pivot hole isn't that hard to repair.
Edit: you need to drop the keel to verify that, also not hard and you can replace the hanger bolts at the same time.
Dave B. aboard Pearl 1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399 Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle
That's different than my setup. The picture below is the original bolt out my keel. The link above is a replacement for it. It looks like it may been upgraded at some point. Hard to tell exactly from the picture.
Be careful trying to take the bolt out, or even loosening it up. It took me a full weekend and a lot of torch gas to get mine out.
Whoa! How much does that keel weigh??? I'd be very concerned about trying to remove the pivot bolt unless I had all kinds of rigging and hydraulic jacks. I'd imagine folks who've dealt with them in the past have developed techniques to safely manage that much weight in a small space under the boat, but I would not be surprised at all that you could find yourself pinned under the keel by yourself just out of reach of your cell phone...
Bruce Ross Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032 Port Captain — Milford, CT
1500 lbs more or less. They really aren't that hard to deal with.
I had mine on higher stands, but I believe this will still work. I put down regular old cinder blocks, open sides up, to let the keel down onto with a shim of wood to keep the keel directly off the block. I put 4x4s in the the open slots to keep the keep from tipping over when I finally got it down.
I used a 20 ton bottle jack and some muscle to get the keel up and down. I got impatient using the all thread method.
The keel has to drop way down to clear the bottom of the boat. It needs to drop about 12" to clear in the front. You only need to drop it down about 4-6" or to get to the hanger and pivot pin. As long as the front of the keel stays in the trunk, its going nowhere.
I would check the hangers and pin being that you have it on the stands. Its a maintenance item that definitely needs to be checked. And yes, take a spotter. Even if it is the admiral playing candy crush in the shade.
I lost a lot of pictures when my old phone died or I would upload some to show what I'm describing.
AS a former swing keel owner I used the all thread rod several times to replace the pivot pin and hangars . I made a framework to guide the forward part of the keel as it was lowered ,the aft part of the keel was still hanging by the cable . I did use a bottle jack to make lowering and raising the keel easier but still using the all thread. It takes a while , but I did not feel in danger doing it.. I also had an enlarged pivot pin hole in the keel , much bigger than the sleeve that I got from Catalina direct. So I had a sleeve custom made for the hole and filled in the remaining areas with epoxy and it held up You can do the job
Is the boat on a trailer? The forward end of the keel only needs to drop about 6" to the trailer to to access the pivot. I used the threaded rod approach with shims in the trunk. The keel can be lowered enough without coming completely out of the trunk if you do one end at a time. You could do the same ting on stands or a cradle by building up a support as mentioned above. I drilled and sleeved mine on the trailer with no difficulty
Check this link: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp%3FTOPIC_ID%3D22172&sa=U&ei=KWpbVdbHK4j4yQTC5oKoCg&ved=0CAoQFjAD&usg=AFQjCNFpXPmKzcNOC4UO9e3q5FQ5nkGqRg
Dave B. aboard Pearl 1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399 Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle
Is the boat on a trailer? The forward end of the keel only needs to drop about 6" to the trailer to to access the pivot. I used the threaded rod approach with shims in the trunk. The keel can be lowered enough without coming completely out of the trunk if you do one end at a time. You could do the same ting on stands or a cradle by building up a support as mentioned above. I drilled and sleeved mine on the trailer with no difficulty
If you have the keel cable attachment out you might consider the upgrade offered by Catalina Direct. It allows for a lot more swing. I use washers inside the yoke to keep the cable centered in the yoke. Also, check inside the rubber tube to make sure it is not binding on the tube interior coming apart.
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.