Ken
Montclair, VA
Boat Name:
Model/Year: Catalina 22/1979
Hull No. 8820
Hailing Port: Kilmarnock, VA |
 09/19/2008 1:15 PM Pacific Time
Wondering if replacing the pivot pin on our swing keel is a diy project? We've done a few other replacements, keel cable, winch, turning ball and found everything pretty easy. But we're afraid of going through the trouble of building a support or a sled, removing the keel and then finding out that we can't get the old pin out or the new pin in ourselves. Not sure what kind of shape the pin is in but we do know it's 14 years old.
Anyone have any experience with this??? |
David Torrisi
Santa Clara, CA
Boat Name: Dumbo
Model/Year: 1975 C-22
Hull No. 4330
Hailing Port: Santa Clara |
09/19/2008 2:32 PM Pacific Time
Ken,
You may be able to just drop the forward portion of the keel 6-8" to have a look at the pin and keel hole. If you support the aft end on the trailer support, you may have enough clearance to drop the front. Here's what I mean by clearance:
http://dumbo.torrisi.org/gallery/Details/dscf0491
You can use an auto jack to support the front, loosen the 4 bolts and slowly lower the keel until you can see the pin and remove the hangers. Keep an eye on the aft end as it will be pivoting on that point and the tip will be approaching the hull aft of the keel cable tube. There's plenty of keel still up in the trunk to keep it from flopping over. You really have to be careful removing those 4 bolts, though. There are stories of a few people breaking off the heads and finding themselves in a pickle. Most, however are uneventful.
David
http://www.c22region10.org/bb C22 Owners Forum |
Ken
Montclair, VA
Boat Name:
Model/Year: Catalina 22/1979
Hull No. 8820
Hailing Port: Kilmarnock, VA |
09/20/2008 5:59 PM Pacific Time
David,
Thanks for the recommendation for just lowering the front of the keel from the hangers. That would be much better than building a sled to remove the whole keel. But, once I do lower the keel and have access to the pivot pin, how do I remove the old pivot pin and install the new one? I'm under the impression that the pin is secured to the keel, perhaps through welding, instead of free to rotate in a bored out hole. If it is secured to the keel, how do I remove the pin? Do I need to drill the pin out? How do I attach the new pin to the keel? Do I have to weld it in place or is there an epoxy I should use? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks. |
Dave Cole
Middleboro, MA
Boat Name: Zephyr
Model/Year: 22' swing, 1973
Hull No. 2241
Hailing Port: Fairhaven, MA |
09/22/2008 7:53 AM Pacific Time
Hi Ken,
I removed my pivot pin last fall with the boat on my loadrite trailer. For one week before trying to remove the bolts I sprayed them with PB Blaster (like WD-40) and they came out no problem. I clamped on 2X4s to the trailer frame to keep the keel upright. In order to lower the keel enough to get at the pin I had to remove keel holder on my trailer and jack up the rear of the keel. It was that or raising up the front of the boat which turns out is pretty easy to do. Just raise the front of the trailer, put 2/6's on stands up under the bow and then lower the trailer. I learnt that when I painted the bottom this spring.
Also, the pin is not glued or welded in. It should come right out. I was very suprised to see that mine looked new and didn't need replacing.
When re-installing, make sure you use new bolts with the proper loct-tite and use a good torque wrench to get the proper tourqe. I "think" it was 25 pounds. There are other discussion threads here that go over the proper tourqe, double check to be sure. |
David Torrisi
Santa Clara, CA
Boat Name: Dumbo
Model/Year: 1975 C-22
Hull No. 4330
Hailing Port: Santa Clara |
09/22/2008 9:43 AM Pacific Time
Dave has some good tips here. I didn't have to do anything to my trailer when lowering the keel using a floor jack but every trailer setup is different so you'll have to do some head-scratching. My pin was somewhat loose in the keel hole so it came out easily. Odds are that if your pin is still secure in the keel, you won't need to replace it. It's the big hole that wears out the pin. A tight keel to pin fit would eliminate that wear point. As my keel was removed entirely, I made a jig to hold the pin in the correct position and then filled the void (about 1/4" on the unloaded side) with marine-tex. Not sure I'd recommend the same stuff, but it seems to be holding just fine, although I'm over due in dropping it to have a look.
Replacing the 4 bolts is cheap insurance. Catalina Direct sells the primer for the thread lock and that's a pretty important component to get the thread lock stuff to do it's job. Don't skip it. It's also a good idea to have a quick look at your bolts/hangers before each trailering adventure. I once found that the vibration of trailering had backed out one side of the hanger bolts enough that the hanger was about 1/4" loose. Not good!
David |
Larry
Greenville, SC
Boat Name: Kemo Sabe
Model/Year: C-22 , 1973
Hull No. 2229
Hailing Port: www.keoweesailingclub.com |
09/27/2008 5:30 PM Pacific Time
I have no idea if this link will work or not, but here are pictures of my keel being dropped when I inspected the pin and pin hole.
http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb89/larryepps/Dropping%20Keel/
Kemo Sabe |
Bilbo
Youngstown, Ohio
Boat Name: Sea Dog
Model/Year: Catalina 22 1987
Hull No. 13971
Hailing Port: Andover, Ohio |
09/30/2008 3:16 AM Pacific Time
A word of caution. ON my trailer there is a cross member right below the middle of the keel. I discovered just in time that I could inspect the keel pivot with the boat on the trailer but I cold not lower the front of the keel far enough to get the pin out UNLESS I raised the back of the boat about 4 inches above the bunks. If I didn't do this the keel would raise up in the back and puncture the hull just behind the cable hole in the keel slot.
Of course my trailer and my bunk height may be different than others. |
Greg Baker
Charlotte, NC
Boat Name: Sea Sharp Minor
Model/Year: Catalina 22 - 1984 - Swing Keel
Hull No. 11823
Hailing Port: Lake Norman Sailing Club |
10/01/2008 1:43 PM Pacific Time
I had the same experience as Bilbo. I made a simple cradle out of 2x4's and plywood that fit the hull about 2 feet in from the transom. By setting the height of the cradle so that it just fit in place with the tongue of the trailer as low as it will go, then when you jack up the tongue, the aft end of the boat comes off the trailer enough so you can lower the keel without damage to the aft end of the trunk. |
Bilbo
Youngstown, Ohio
Boat Name: Sea Dog
Model/Year: Catalina 22 1987
Hull No. 13971
Hailing Port: Andover, Ohio |
10/03/2008 4:09 AM Pacific Time
and Greg's fine explanation was in line with my solution.
Just as a word of caution, make sure that if you do create some sort of cradle that it supports the boat's hull properly and that you are 100% safe.
Same thing goes for when the keel is lowered. Have some sort of stand for the front of the keel so that it doesn't fall sideways when you remove the bolts. Some use threaded rods to lower the keel. You can probably take any one keel bolt out one at a time without any issue and replace them al then with a threaded rod and nut to safely lower the keel but once it's lowered a few inches, a stand shaped like a big, sturdy _/| |\_ supporting underneath and cradling the keel is necessary to get to the keel pivot pin and not have the keel flop sideways into your lap. Raising the keel back into place is easier with a hydraulic jack but be careful that the jack doesn't try to move the keel off alignment with the holes in the hull. |
Austin Cooley
Honeoye Falls, NY
Boat Name: Wings of the Morning
Model/Year: Catalina 22, 1983
Hull No. 11602
Hailing Port: Keuka Lake, Branchport, NY |
10/04/2008 4:21 AM Pacific Time
I check my pivot pin and keel hole regularly and found that a bottle jack is more convenient that a floor jack on wheels. The floor jack rolls as it ris4es and lowers and doesn't always come back to the same spot. A little bottle jack does the job nicely going straight up and down. The brace shown in the previous post is essentially what I use.
Austin Cooley
|
R. C. Luiken
Milford, DE
Boat Name: Ricochet
Model/Year: C-22 Swing Keel/1986
Hull No. 13560
Hailing Port: Milford, DE/St. Michaels, MD |
10/04/2008 9:38 AM Pacific Time
Something I do when I remove my keel is to replace the hanger bolts, one at a time, with threaded rod about 18 inches long with nuts cinched up tight and loosen them evenly to lower the keel about 2 turns per nut in sequence. I also use wire ties to keep the threaded rod together and keep the brass hangers on the pin. I lower this to the point where it fits in my sled if I am going to remove the keel completely.. Note the many cautions about the bottom of the keel contacting the keel trunk.
This gives me enough clearance to paint the whole keel without removing it entirely from the boat if all I need to do is paint.
To get the keel in position to paint the whole thing takes about 15 minutes.
When the work is done, just reverse the process tightening the nuts until the brass hanger is in place and replace the threaded rod with the keel bolts treated with Loctite. |
