'Broken" Keel

[Mistral]

Motoring out at low tide I have to go under 3 bridges. The second one has gates and it appears that I hit the below waterline rail and "broke" my keel. I am unable to raise it more than 12 inches.
Now I can not put the boat on the trailer as was intended tomorrow.

Has anybody any suggestions for a fix? The boat is moored in front of the house and not on a marina.

[bastonjock]

hi mistral,sorry to hear about your keel,unfortuneately i dont own an so i am unfamiliar with their daggerboard set up.

All i can suggest is that if you are in a part of Aussie that is not shark or croc infested, stick on a snorkel and mask and go look,it may well be an easy fix,part of the keel may be damaged and therefore a tap or two with something or break off the broken part,if you do that be carefull that nothing is left sticking out as this could cause a jam

[c130king]

Can you go in thte water and lower it out the bottom?

[Jack Sparrow]

Attach a rope to the rudder halyard and push the board out through the bottom, hook the rope with a boat hook from the outside and drag the line down the dagger board trunk grab the loop and pull the dagger board up from Davey Jones locker

Jack Sparrow

[beene]

Ouch

I feel your pain.

I think dropping it out through the bottom will be your only option.

G

[c130king]

Just out of curiosity, how do you get the dagger board back in the right place?

I presume the pieces/parts on the deck can be removed to lower the dagger board back in the slot from above. Is this a difficult or excessively time consuming thing to do?

I know I have barnacles on my DB. The bottom 12" have been cleaned (give or take) but that is as far as I could lower it on my trailer. Maybe I will do this to clean the rest of the DB.

Thanks,
Jim

[James V]

Sounds right, Inspect, Handle the bad part or drop down.

I hope your dealier has a spair if not Blue Water Yachts usually carries one as well as rudders.

[bubba]

I here it is not too expensive for a new dagger board but shipping is getting expensive due to fuel cost.

[Mistral]

The daggerboard can be lifted through the top. You will need to remove the mast to be able to lift it..

Can anybody tell me what the weight of the daggerboard is? I will probably need to get one shipped from the USA.

[James V]

About 40 pounds, about 5 foot 6 inches long and about 20 inches wide.

[Boblee]

Mistral even if Phil has one it may pay to either fixit or perhaps make one, surely it can't be that difficult?
Perhaps even modify it with a bit of weight like Jack is, wouldn't make it too much stronger as then something else has to break when you hit the gate next time .

[puggsy]

Hi Mistral. Is there anywhere close to you with a sloping beach. Take a leaf out of the book of Matthew Flinders...When his Endeavour was rotten and leaking. he beached it for repair and would have had to lay it over to get at the side...Is it possible for you to get some help and do that. Even if the daggerboard is sticking down two feet, you might be able to get it into water shallow enough to have a look and suss the problem...Otherwise, do you have a big blue lifter in the area...say at a yacht club. They can sling it and direct lift it out.
Not sure of this, but can the daggerboard lower out the bottom if you release the safety rope?. What does Roger say?
Come on Rog...some help here...Puggsy 06

oops...should have read the other comments first....sorry guys!.
It does come out the bottom.
p.s. No sharks in these waters...the crocs have eaten them all.

[delevi]

As others have said, drop/push the board out of the bottom of the hull. A new board is $200, so may not be worth attempting a repair. With the mast lowered, the plate/roller which holds the DB lines will lift, flip to the port side via the hinge attachment. Fairly easy to remove and reinstall. It doesn't weigh much.. probably 25 lbs with no water inside it. Total length is 69.5 inches. Depth (chord length) is 18 inches. Thickness is around 2 inches. When you reinstall, put the boat on the water and lower the board exactly 57 inches below the deck. Place your stop knot in the stop line there. Then re-measure.... things may change due to line stretch so it make take two or three attempts to get it just right.

Leon

[Mistral]

I managed to drop the dagger board today. Waiting for the weekend and a high tide and listening to the admiral made it possible.
The admiral suggested a small closed bottle put in a sock tied to the sheet of the dagger board. Great idea.
Dropped the dagger board reversed the boat away from the jetty and up pops the bottle.
The dagger board was definitely broken as the pictures show.
Well, better order a new one now.

[Phillip]

Take it to a figreglass repair shop/boat builder.
I have one up here that comes out to me......pretty sure he would fix that.
I watch him....fibreglass has to be the easiest of all materials to work with...well he is a tradesman and that is how it appears.
Cheers
Phillip