Good morning, I need some help my Venture 21. She is an older boat (but no less a looker!), and I'm working on restoring her hull. The process is just beginning so this will be the first of a slew of inquiries.
I pulled the keel this weekend and to my pleasant surprise it was in very good shape. Since I have it out and am doing some other glass work, I would like to replace the cable that is an integral part of the keel. Does anyone know if I can do this without completely rebuilding the keel (ie, taking all the fiberglass off)? I can see that I'll have to dig the cable out a little bit but I don't know if it wraps around the steel core or if it just goes through it at some point.
Does anyone have an exploded diagram of the keel? Has anyone done this that could add comment.
Welcome aboard. I have edited your post above to comply with forum rules of limiting images in a post to 2-3. No problem. You might want to edit your profile to include your location, as this makes it a bit more personal and can help with getting answers to some questions.
I don't know what's under that glass, or how exactly the V21 is arranged as far as the keel cable, but if its like the Mac 25 there is a bolt that goes through the keel and the cable is connected using it. This may be the case with yours. Go ahead and remove the glass around and see how it is, then hit us back if you need any input. FWIW, I would not re-encase the cable in glass; make it that much easier to do inspections and maintenance in the future IMHO. This is an item that should be inspected regularly, and I cannot see how you do this with any confidence if you can't see it under all that glass.
Good thoughts on the keel cable. I will go after it a little at a time and see how its secured. I like the idea of modifying the attachment so it can be checked/replaced regularly.
