Swing-Keel Line

[Kelly Hanson East]

CB knot need only be a simple granny knot.

Knot to be pedantic, but technically a half-hitch, I think.

[Hamin' X]

Knot shore (sorry Eric), but me thinks tis an overhand knot, since a hitch is tied to something else.

~Rich

[argonaut]

For those who added a turning block at the centerboard line tube, doesn´t it interfere when you step the mast?
Maybe it´s not as tall as it looks.

[opie]

I accept three lashes with a granny knot as the overhand knot is what it was....

[Hamin' X]

Glad we got that untangled and whipped.

~Rich

[Hubert]

Has anyone considered replacing the Swing Keel Cable/Line with a Synthetic Rope like the AMSTEEL-BLUE used on ATV winches

Hubert


AmSteel®-Blue is a torque-free 12-strand single braid that yields the maximum in strength-to-weight ratio and, size for size, is the same strength as steel—yet it floats. AmSteel®-Blue outlasts wire 3:1, making it an excellent wire rope replacement. It has extremely low stretch and superior flex fatigue and wear resistance. Samthane coating enhances that already high abrasion and cut resistance. For specifications pertaining to the Offshore industry, please go to the Offshore pages.

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[Rick Westlake]

Has anyone considered replacing the Swing Keel Cable/Line with a Synthetic Rope like the AMSTEEL-BLUE used on ATV winches

Amsteel Blue would be fine, but I think it's more than we need on a 26X or 26M. Sta-Set does just fine for me. My old steel cable had the major problems of corrosion and losing a self-loosening fastener; my all-StaSet pendant ends with a figure-8 knot that I melted shut.

My main worry is the potential for abrasion, where the line comes out of the top of the centerboard trunk. That's bare fiberglass and I don't know how smooth it is. I'm likely to drop the centerboard, sometime soon, just to check. If I ever do find significant wear on the line, I will at least use a Dremel to grind out and smooth off the edges of the hole - or I may follow the lead of someone else (sorry, I don't remember whom) who epoxied a fairlead into the hole.

If I did use Amsteel, I'd cover the last few feet of it for a better grip - starting a foot or so above the cleat. But honestly, I believe that line is loaded so lightly that you could probably do fine with cheap clothesline from Home Depot.

[Kelly Hanson East]

Glad we got that untangled and whipped.

~Rich

Im still willing to debate this to the bitter end of decore-um

[Rick Westlake]

Glad we got that untangled and whipped.

~Rich

Im still willing to debate this to the bitter end of decore-um

Don't you think you're carricking this line a bitt too far?

[DaveB]

I must have had a Brain fart because I had been thinking all this time of some how putting a roller on the Stainless steel loop when I should have been thinking what you have done. So simple it makes me sick. Thanks for the info.
Dave

You can install an exit block right next to the CB deck hole, and leave the small stainless steel factory pin-post in place. The line or cable can easily pass at a slight angle over the steel pin, and then over the sheeve at nearly 90 degrees. I did bend the loop above the pin slightly to the side as shown in the photo.
If I had found a readily available block that could straddle the hole, with a wide base and a large open space or hole in the base for the line, that could have worked without using the pin, if one side of the sheeve was directly over the hole, However, mounting the block to the side allows leaving the factory hardware unmodified, the hole is not obstructed, and the added block takes most of the angle.

[opie]

ALX357,
Thanks so much for the suggestion for the CB line bullet block.
Here is what I did, a bit different as I "dremeled" off the s.s. turning pin so that the block could put the line down the whole directly.

I slid the fore side of the block under the mast step and re-tightened the step down on it, (dremeled out a cut to clear the starboard m.step bolt) and put the aft left corner of the block under the aft m.step bolt washer and re-tightened down on that and ended up only drilling one hole into which I put the s.s. screw shown above in the aft port hole of the block that went thru the deck and thru the m.step mounting plate below.
Thanks again. That will make my sailing much easier.

[ALX357]

That looks better than the hybrid method I used. Although I started out with one of those same blocks you used, I ended up butchering it too much, plus I chickened out on loosening the step bolts. Either sure beats that steel pin for a 90-degree turn.