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Swing Keel Cable Broke At Mooring

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Ron99
Deckhand

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USA
9 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2004 : 08:38:29

The third time was the charm. The diver was not able to remove cotter pin as the water was too murky. Plan B was to attach a new cable to the old fitting. Since diver did not bring the cable requested I went into problem solving mode. I decide to use the new cable with the new fitting to form a loop through the old keel attached fitting. I had the diver thread the bit end of the cable through the fork of the old fitting and then through the fork of the new fitting to which I had closed with the clevis pin. The bit end was then threaded up through the hull and attached to the winch. The new cable closed on the old fitting and I was able to raise the keel!!! I had the diver put a 5/8" line under the keel for a safety strap. Yesterday I moved the boat 5 miles to a marina with a lift out facility. During the trip the line moved off of the keel back toward the outboard. I tightened the line for the remainder of the trip and did not have any problem.

Advice, in murky water do not try to fix the keel cable under water. The visibility is just too bad. Use a new cable to lift the keel. I did buy the suggested truck straps as a plan C but I found the metal ends difficult to work with. There is no simple way to keep them together, so I would fore go that approach also.

Thank you all for your advice, experience in helping me to get out of a tough hole. I was moving the boat so I could show prospective buyers the hull bottom etc., so this will be my last hurrah.

Edited by - on

triley
Captain

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USA
251 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2004 : 04:22:47

I wish I had seen this earlier. I had the same thing happen to me, but in a lake. Since I had earlier been part of a rescue team in the BVI for a cat with a docklins wrap around a prop where we used the winch to provide tension, I decided to use the winches to get the keel up.

Keelhauled a line along the bottom and made sure it got back behind the keel assembly. Winched the keel up- a pretty easy jib with the self tailersand took it to a local sand bar where I dropped the keel and pulled the swage end of the cable from the fitting at the keel. This is easy to do with a snorkle and about 20 seconds at the keel end which is less than 5 feet below the surface ( we have a nice clear lake).

Fed the new keel cable up the hole making sure it passed the rolling block correctly and went aboard to make certain the end was clamped on the winch barrel correctly. Then went into the water again to replace the swage end clevis. Kept ension on the cable as I winched it up tight and was back in business.

Feel lucky that you dropped it in shallow water. Good idea to get the keel strapped up quickly. I had to leave it like that for about 4 days til the new cable came. I now have a spare. With the preventer, you may be able to get the boat on your trailer if you put it deep enough, if you would rather do the replacement on land.

I wonder what to do when the keel cable lets go in deep water. A job for spare towels and anything that can go into a ruptured hull at the keel trunk.