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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

swing keel pin & bushing

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RoofRoof
Navigator

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USA
186 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/23/2004 : 14:40:55

After breaking the keel cable shortly after the bottom cleaning guy said that I was due for bottom paint.....I've decided to have the boat hauled to repaint and replace all keel hardware. Because I don't have a trailer, and am afraid to do much with a 1500LB keel, I'm going to pay for assistance. I'm trying to be proactive and be ready for whatever I might find. I've seen posts here about the hole in the keel where the pivot pin goes.....has become elongated, worn, or egg shaped. Being a 1979, and it stays in the salt water yr round, and the PO said it was docked in a river for about 5 yrs. that he knew of, and the other 18yrs of life we just don't know if the keel was banging around or not.

What is everyone's opinion as to whether I'll need to have it sent to a machine shop to be bored and have a bronze bushing put in. How many have, and how many haven't. Please tell me the history of in water or not.

If so, any tips? I don't know how I'll get it to a machine shop. Won't fit in my 2 dr Jag.

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Steve Kostanich
1st Mate

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88 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2004 : 16:11:30

RoofRoof,
If the keel needs to be bushed, I'd say you need to rent a pick-up truck to haul it, and have pretty substantial shoring timbers to keep it from shifting around in the truck bed. I've kept my '79 swing keel in the saltchuck during the summer months for the last 20 years, and the pivot hole in my keel is in remarkabley good condition. I changed all the keel hardware 3 years ago, and the pin still fit pretty darn close; no "egging-out" at all. Changed the cable and bracket bolts about 2 weeks ago, but nothing else. The rest of the stuff should be good for 4-5 more years. Plan to splash this monday pm.

Steve Kostanich C-25 1119 Equinox sr/sk

P.S. John Mason, I will be moored right next to you!! on the new dock at Swantown Mar. Slip D-45

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steephen
Navigator

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100 Posts

Response Posted - 04/27/2004 : 20:07:33

Dear Roof:

I just finished re-boring my egged-out keel pin hole yestarday with my brother. It was absolutely simple and painless. This is under the assumption that you're mechanically inclined and want to do it in place, yourself.

1) Haul the boat and get it on jackstands, the more the better.
2) Raise and block the keel via the cable or house jacks (one can rent the ten-ton screw jack for fifteen bucks). You want the keel to be horizontal.
3) Build a crib of wood under the pin end. Use the "threaded rod" method discussed elsewhere in these pages to lower the pin end of the keel on to the crib.
4) Make a jig of four pieces of 3/4" plywood screwed (not glued) together. This makes a three inch thick blank. Buy or get a 1-1/4" drill bit and bore a hole in the blank on a drill press.
5) On my keel, the area right around the pin hole is perpendicular to the pin hole. Grind or sand this area flat (clean it up).
6) My brother and I then aligned the bored-out blank with the oval hole very carefully, and clamped it in place with serious clamps.
7) Rent a 1/2" drill with a serious motor and a speed of 500 rpm or so. Use cutting oil, add pressure, and bore out the keel.
8) The wood blank will guide the bit through to the metal at 90 degrees. After the drill gets up to the chuck, back her out and unscrew the outermost board; this buys you another 3/4" drilling.
9) We then cleaned out the hole with acetone, sprayed some good zinc primer in there, let her dry. I then lined the hole with poly-sulfide (Boat-Life) and hammered the new sleeve in there.
10) We then took a careful series of measurements and I took the bearing blocks to a machine shop and had them cut them doun to the necessary width to accommodate the pin and keel.

This took about three hours from start to finish. One should keep the top five or six inches of the pin end of the keel buried in the trunk, to prevent the keel from tipping over. One should also have the new pin and collar on hand from Catalina. The new bushing should be an inch and a quarter outside diameter.

I thought this over for a long time because they wanted eight hundred to a thousand to take the keel on a forklift to some shop table and drill it out on a press. Then I looked at magnetic base drills to do it on site. Then I thought this method up. It was the easiest thing I've ever done on my C-25, much less grievous than re-betting my windows. My drill bit was $70 and has one keel hole on her; I will sell it to you cheap if you go this method.

Send a post if you want to discuss this further and maybe we could talk details on the phone. I know it sounds like a big job, but you wouldn't believe the sense of joy, achievement and savings we experienced when we were done and eating pizza in a few hours. Less than a hundred bucks.

Stephen Z on "Little Wing"

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RoofRoof
Navigator

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USA
186 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2004 : 18:57:14

OK, I'll take your word on how easy it was. But, I still might just rather pay someone to do it. Wanna take a trip to Florida?

Anyone else have any experience with the keel hole bushing?

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2004 : 22:13:25

RoofRoof,<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Anyone else have any experience with the keel hole bushing?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I installed a 1-1/2" O.D. bronze bushing in my swing keel at home. I had the keel removed at a marina while the boat was hanging from a travel lift. They sandblasted the keel, sort of bored the hole, and put the keel in the back of a pickup truck for me. I took it home, unloaded it on my garage floor, and finished the bushing install, as well as fairing and encapsulating the entire keel. I then reinstalled the keel in the boat in my driveway.

-- Leon Sisson

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steephen
Navigator

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100 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2004 : 20:09:34

Roof (and Leon):

Just to report success in re-installing keel with new pin/carriage hardware this weekend. The entire bore-out process was a cinch (see previous post), and look forward to splashdown on Thursday.

"Little Wing"

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mfasis
Navigator

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114 Posts

Response Posted - 08/07/2004 : 11:57:32

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Leon Sisson
 RoofRoof,<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Anyone else have any experience with the keel hole bushing?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I installed a 1-1/2" O.D. bronze bushing in my swing keel at home. I had the keel removed at a marina while the boat was hanging from a travel lift. They sandblasted the keel, sort of bored the hole, and put the keel in the back of a pickup truck for me. I took it home, unloaded it on my garage floor, and finished the bushing install, as well as fairing and encapsulating the entire keel. I then reinstalled the keel in the boat in my driveway.

-- Leon Sisson
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Leon,

Where did you get the bronze bushing?

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John V.
Admiral

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USA
559 Posts

Response Posted - 08/08/2004 : 08:40:13

you can get the whole rebuild kit from Catalina Direct. Having done the job on my C22, the process is about the same for the C25 except for the weight of the vessel and the keel. I was able to do the lifting myself with help from the video provided by catalina direct.

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dbehling
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts

Response Posted - 08/09/2004 : 23:36:12

This will be one of our projects very soon too. I didn't know that there was a video for this. Does CD still sell them? What is the name of it. We may possibly have a small crack in our keel well that we will have to do some repair to. So having the keel totally out of the way will make this job easier. I do like the idea of having a boatyard removing it, sanblasting it and putting it into the bed of the truck. How hard was it to get it aligned back up to install on your own???

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 08/10/2004 : 21:31:37

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> How hard was it to get it aligned back up to install on your own?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">See [[url="http://home.mpinet.net/%7Esissonl/boating/C25_proj/SK_install.htm#Contents"]link[/url]] Then feel free to ask additional questions about any unclear details. Some photos exist, I may add them to the linked page when the spirit moves me.

-- Leon Sisson

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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.