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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

lowering keel for repair

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Eric Dove
1st Mate

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37 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/17/2002 : 15:25:31

Hello....second post in one day here....

My C25 SK is pretty new to me, and I don't think any type of keel maintenance has been done to it in quite a while(keel pin, winch cable, winch cable pin, turning ball, etc.). I'm going to have it in a slip next year, so I wanna make sure everything down there is in good shape.

I have a trailer and the brace under the keel appears to be droppable. The screw down is pretty rusty, but that's its own issue. If I can get that brace out of the way, does anyone have any slick ways of lowering the keel to replace these parts? At 1500#, I'm very concerned about keeping control of everything....I can just see it laying on its side on the garage floor under the boat....man would that be another barrel of monkeys. It's also pretty darn close to the ground as is, only 8" or so. Is that enough clearance to get the keel low enough to do any good?

Any ideas on the subject would be much appreciated.

Eric Dove on Adelaide

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2002 : 16:22:10

Eric,
You're on the right track. My Trail-Rite trailer had a keel channel welded to the frame which I cut off. I built a pair of braces out of 2x4s and clamped them to the trailer frame to keep the keel vertical. I used a hydraulic jack to lower the keel down onto the trailer frame. This gave me access to the trailing edge for refinishing. My keel shifted aft a couple-three inches when I lowered it - so I had to reposition it with a second jack and length of wood when reinstalling.
Good luck.

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Eric Dove
1st Mate

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37 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2002 : 16:34:05

That doesn't sound too bad.....how much clearance does your trailer give you? Is 8" or so enough? (it might be more than that...I'll have to measure.

Eric Dove on Adelaide

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Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1774 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2002 : 17:46:29

Hi Eric,

I'm not sure if you are talking about enough clearance to change the keel cable only, or if you want enough room to drop the entire keel so you can sand and paint the whole thing. If you only need to replace the keel cable and paint as much of the keel as you can reach, you don't need much clearance at all ... just enough to be able to detach the old cable from the keel. My keel was in surprisingly good shape compared to the rest of the bottom, so I was comfortable just sanding/painting the part of the keel I could reach (about 95% of it).

In the photo you can see where the keel cable attaches to the keel. The keel is resting on one of the trailer's axles so there is no strain on the cable or the drum ... there is plenty of room to replace the cable:

<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b2dc02b3127cce9ceb881d206e0000005410" border=0>

If you want to lower the entire keel, the neatest idea I've seen uses a combination of very long threaded bolts and a hydraulic jack(s). I thought I saw it in the Tech Tips section, but I can't find it now ... maybe someone else can find it and post a link to it. Anyway, it was a good way of getting to the whole keel (short of putting the boat up in a sling), and it looked pretty safe to me.

'Hope that helps ... good luck.

Buzz Maring, C-25 SK/SR #68, "Freya"

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2002 : 19:22:02

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
how much clearance does your trailer give you?
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
Eric,
It depends on the make and year of your trailer. I have a 1981 Trail-Rite and a friend has a 1986. His C25 sits at least 6" lower on his trailer than mine. Another friend has a 1983 (same year as yours)Trail-Rite whose boat sits as high as mine.
If you own a Trail-Rite I think you'll have enough wiggle room. If it's an EZ-Loader - maybe someone else will chime in.

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2002 : 21:24:47

Eric,

Here's a [url="http://www.cadvision.com/smithb/tellme/swkeelinstall.html"]link[/url] or [url="http://trailersailor.com/forums/tsarchives6/index.cgi?read=154102"]two[/url] to some misc. swing keel wrestling info, and a [url="http://www.cadvision.com/smithb/tellme/C25SK_67.jpg"]picture of the threaded rods[/url] in use. As I recall, I needed to lower the front of the keel about 2" to service the pivot, and lowered the aft end about 6" to 8" to service the cable attachment. Let me know if you have any additional questions. Be careful, and good luck.<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

-- Leon Sisson

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Eric Dove
1st Mate

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37 Posts

Response Posted - 10/21/2002 : 10:54:07

Man, those pix are extremely helpful. Your trailer looks to be very similar to mine. Mine has a keel support on an "adjustable" threaded rod. It's so rusted that I'm sure I'll have to cut it. Your info really helps solidify some ideas I had and nullifies some others. I think it may be time to go shopping for jack stands! Thanks very much.

Eric

Eric Dove on Adelaide

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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.