Keel Drop - Venture 25

[Dark and Stormy]

I'm going to attempt to drop the keep on my venture 25 tomorrow, unless someone stops me and says it can't be done without a tremendous amount of heartache.

The boat is on the trailer, it seems like I can support the front with a floor jack, unbolt it, then drop the front and slide it forward until the keel clears the trailer support. I'm going to build a support of laminated plywood on a furniture dolly to 'catch' the keel and keep it upright as it falls.

Alternately... I was considering reeling up the keel, cutting out the trailer keel support, and welding it back on after the keel is refinished and returned to the boat.

[Bob McLellan]

If you consider the last. when you reinstall the cross piece of the trailer, set it up so that it bolts in instead of welding. That way you will have no problems if you need to do it in the future, When I did mine I just unbolted a roller that the keel rested on when traveling. There is another roller for the keel at the very back of the trailer that comes into play if the keel cable gives way . It just helps the keel fold up (if you have not forgotten to remove the keel locking bolt ).

[Dark and Stormy]

Utter failure.

I elected to not cut out the keel support because (1) I was concerned about its structural stability when bolted back in place, and (2) with the axle in close proximity, there would not have been enough clearance to drop the keel without also raising the boat.

So... I dropped the tongue of the trailer as low as it would go (thus, raising the rear of the boat as high as possible. Then built a support to hold the rear of the boat at this level (high level). I then raised the tongue of the trailer as high as it would go (thus, raising the front of the boat as high as possible. This was highly effective, and I thought I was very near success... but at the end of nearly four hours trying to muscle the keel out of this precariously perched vessel, it became clear that I was two inches from success, and four inches from easy success.

The new plan is to use 4 scissor jacks, bolted top and bottom to 1.5"x 1' x 1' plywood and a couple concrete blocks to raise the boat the ~8" that I need.

I will report futher after this new attempt.

[Freedom77]

Dark and Stormy: you had the right idea from the beginning. When I dropped the keel on Freedom I built a support under the stern using a couple of 50 gal oil drums with 2x4 on top, then used two jacks forward of the keel and jacked one up, moved the trailer forward to the trailer cross member then set the other jack behind the cross member and so on. Only took two jacks. Then set her on support forward. It worked out great. Also used your idea for platform. I built a HEAVY platform on HEAVY casters and lowered the keel onto it with uprights on each side to support it. Just make sure she is high enough to roll platform from under boat. easy peasy. What year is your Venture? Freedom is a '76. Fair Winds and Full Sails....

[Bob McLellan]

If you go to the SAILINGAZ account on photobucket.com you can see my setup for pulling the keel (sorry could not figure out how to copy and past the img/[img]. Sound like what you are doing. I had the boat completely off the trailer so it was easier to pull out the keel.

[Steve K]

Dark,

Here's some pics of when I did this on my C-22. This may offer some ideas.
The keel on the C-22 weighed 500 pounds. Don't know what yours weighs, but be careful, please

https://www.box.com/s/e25891a375be219e88a7

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[Dark and Stormy]

Success!

In the end, I had to use three jacks, a block of laminated plywood and MDF (shaped to match the hull), five cinder blocks, ~56' of 2x4's, 1 lb of 3" deck screws, a furniture dolly, a sawzall, and a girlfriend with 911 on speed dial. I did cut out the keel support on the trailer to push this thing through the finish line...

I'll post a picture of the keel when I get back home this evening, but I'm glad I pulled it off. The pivot bolt, and the cable bolt were both badly bent, and the keep is flaking rust on every surface.

[Catigale]

Safety warning, thread rehash warning

Cinder or cement blocks are poor choices for blocking up loads. They fail by crumbling without warning. They work well in basement walls because they are aligned so that the load is spread evenly over the whole block surface, and they aren't left outside in the weather for 3 years before use. Your trailer loads it on about 1/10 of the area which means the block is loaded completely differently than its design.

Solid wood is similar cost and much safer for this purpose