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Keel winch meltdown!

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clayC
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/19/2005 : 15:04:09

Sunday was our third day sailing on our C25. It was pretty windy and it didnt look like the loaner short shaft 6hp was going to take her out of the harbor. We were being blown into the break water so I had my wife go below and winch the keel down. She yelled back that there was a problem and if she cranked the winch it would spin free. so we head back into calm water I handed her the tiller and went below. I cant remember the excact moment I lost grip on the handle but I do remember the next split second when it hit the back of my hand. I cranked it up enought to get it in, with the crank lashed to the steps. when we got in we pulled the Keel trunk cover and checked for damage, it went down pretty hard. Srue enought there was a couple of very small leaks.

Question: can I repair this from the inside? The leaks were small enought to pretty much stop with duct tape and a bunch of 5200. I have pulled the boat sanded the trunk and plan to epoxy a few strips of cloth to it. And do thoes winches give way like that often?

Clay C

Kamalla 1980 C25 SK/TR

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clayC
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2005 : 19:59:38

ok so the guy at Catalina Direct told me that I have crushed the fiberglass inside my keel trunk, he said water could seep inside the shell itself and cause a soft spot. my thoughts......I am going to put a bandaid on the inside and sail this season. And check it out when I pull it.

Any thoughts from any of you fiberglass guys?

Clay C

Edited by - on

ddlyle
Captain

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302 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2005 : 00:07:01

I have not heard of a keel winch doing that.
The thought crosses my mind that perhaps it wasn't a proper winch with a built in brake.
I don't know.
As far as fiberglass, if it were me, I would haul it out and repair the fiberglass on the outside after it dried out.
But I REALLY don't know enough on the subject to make suggestions.

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2005 : 00:16:50

IMHO stuff and various wild-a$$-guesstimates follow.

Sounds like the brake on your winch failed to engage. Stuck on shaft, oil got onto the brake friction surfaces ?? I don't think I've heard of a spontaneous runaway like that.

At this point, if you really like the boat, I'd seriously consider installing the wing keel retrofit kit. Economic viablity of the retrofit will depend a lot on the depth of your pocketbook and condition of your boat.

You can probably do it for $2K if you have the skills to do the work yourself and have facilities at your disposal where you can 'hang' the boat for a few days. (2K = approx cost of keel kit, some fairing compound and some paint). If you gotta ship it (the new keel) a long ways... well... that adds to the pain.

Paying a yard to do it will probably double the above. IMHO at that point you're approaching the value of the boat and you're probably better off looking at keel trunk repair. If you're comfortable working with fiberglass and have a place to work, not that hard to do.

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2005 : 08:50:25

That happened to me when my son cranked the keel the wrong way (it's supposed to be left to lower, right to raise).

Brooke

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JoergK
Navigator

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USA
140 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2005 : 16:56:09

I'd have a fiberglass expert look at the keel trunk to determine the extent of the damage. In any case, if you plan to sail the boat again, I'd immediately replace the winch. It isn't expensive, CD ships within a day, and you can install it yourself w/o problem. Cheap insurance.

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jlguthri
1st Mate

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USA
93 Posts

Response Posted - 07/26/2005 : 22:24:01

Mine has just done something very similar last friday.

While lowering the winch, it dropped. However, I was in only 4 ft of water at the dock. The keel hit mud, slammed the boat forward (lucky I didn't rip all my cleats out). However, I now have a crack in the boat. When I went to check on the boat the next day I was pondering why it was so low at the bow. When I opened her up, I saw my trash can float by. Over night I had 2 inches of water on top the floor. Many layers of duct tape reduced this to a trickle.

I did this while replacing the keel winch because I partially dropped it over the 4th. The old winch looked hiedous and needed replacement anyway.

When I bought the boat, I got a pretty good deal on it because the keel cable snapped. I inspected the trunk and it looked good. There was some bondo like material on the end of the trunk, but I dismissed it as a sloppy way of re attaching the wooden cover.

I now think this was a sloppy repair to a crack caused when the cable snapped. -- that I only broke loose the bondo like material. I do not think the keel would have hit the stop, rather it might have twisted when it hit the mud.

Now to my point,
I could just fix the boat where it wouldn't leak. This would be easy. However, I am fearful that if something similar would to happen again, the keel would just go through the weakened trunk stop (or whatever you call it). I personally feel this to be a safety concern as the boat could potentially sink very quickly.

I plan to haul the boat out of water. Then build up at least a half dozen layers of glass cloth epoxied over the crack. I hope to build up something that could be structual (if not stronger than the original installation). I have debated even makeing the quarter mooned shaped stop a solid rectangle.

Anyway, I would have serious reservations about just fixing the leak. I'm considering this portion of boat both critical and structual.

Edited by - jlguthri on 07/26/2005 22:25:19

Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1768 Posts

Response Posted - 07/26/2005 : 23:26:21

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by jlguthri
 ... Anyway, I would have serious reservations about just fixing the leak. I'm considering this portion of boat both critical and structual.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Joshua,

'Sorry to hear about your keel problem ... maybe this link to a topic in our Tech Tips will help: [url="http://www.catalina25-250.org/tech/tech25/dragn2.html"]Dragon Tail - Swing Keel Trunk Fix[/url]

Please let us know how things work out ... good luck!

Edited by - on

jlguthri
1st Mate

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USA
93 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2005 : 16:20:59

i plan to thoughly document the repair so that when/if i sell the boat, i can say this is the damage that was caused (pictures).. and this is how and what i did to fix it...

i'll check back in...

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