Run Aground

Discussions related to the tiller and/or keel.
Post Reply
sundance
Anchored
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:29 pm

Run Aground

Post by sundance » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:15 pm

Hi,

New member here (I have put a post in the “lounge” section as a quick introduction) wondered if anyone could advise on a quick query please ?

I went up to my mooring on Ullswater at the weekend to find it vacant !!

Sundance had come away from her mooring (Broken Shackle) but luckily appears to have simply drifted into shore. Having left the keel down she came to rest within feet of the shore as the keel hit terra firma… the local boat hire company spotted her and kindly used my mooring warps (Still attached to the boat) to secure her to a tree and prevent her getting into further trouble.

On first inspection all seemed fine no damage or even marks of any description !!! but I was concerned that she was sitting in less water than I estimated the depth of keel to be.

Inside the cabin the large bush which holds the winch socket to wind the keel had popped up and the threaded bar was clearly visible…and in surprisingly clean condition !

Up until this weekend I knew little of how the keel looked or worked ….I am a card carrying member of the “if it aint broke –don’t fix it" club... and I was more than a little concerned, but after some attempts to get underneath and have a look (I need to lose some weight...or get a bigger wetsuit :oops: ) I simply plucked up courage and wound the keel up… all seemed to go well; the bush fell back into place, the keel came up with its usual satisfying thump into the casing and she floated off. The bolt which goes thru the casing and holds the keel in place showed no signs of stress or any leakage and again looked in surprisingly clean condition.

Having got her back on the mooring and not having detailed knowledge of the keel operation I was nervous of putting the keel back down…. If it came out there are 7 metres of pretty murky water below my mooring !! so I left it up for the time being.

Having looked at the drawings and photos on this site however I now feel pretty confident that all should be OK and that the bush coming up is what you would expect.

So at the risk of getting all pythonesque on you I am one lucky lucky lucky………. :D

Has this or similar happened to anyone else and can anyone think of a reason why I shouldn’t just put the keel back down ??

Rondonay
Cruising
Posts: 166
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:43 am

Run Aground

Post by Rondonay » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:29 pm

Hi Sundance,

The keel is designed to pop up at moments like this, should be OK have a good look in the technical archives there will be something there.

Rob sails Vega on Ullswater, he's a real expert.

Pauline

Jul 2, 2008 08:15:42 AM, forum-tillerkeel@swift18.org wrote:
Hi,

New member here (I have put a post in the “lounge” section as a quick introduction) wondered if anyone could advise on a quick query please ?

I went up to my mooring on Ullswater at the weekend to find it vacant !!

Sundance had come away from her mooring (Broken Shackle) but luckily appears to have simply drifted into shore. Having left the keel down she came to rest within feet of the shore as the keel hit terra firmaÂ… the local boat hire company spotted her and kindly used my mooring warps (Still attached to the boat) to secure her to a tree and prevent her getting into further trouble.

On first inspection all seemed fine no damage or even marks of any description !!! but I was concerned that she was sitting in less water than I estimated the depth of keel to be.

Inside the cabin the large bush which holds the winch socket to wind the keel had popped up and the threaded bar was clearly visibleÂ…and in surprisingly clean condition !

Up until this weekend I knew little of how the keel looked or worked ….I am a card carrying member of the “if it aint broke –don’t fix it" club... and I was more than a little concerned, but after some attempts to get underneath and have a look (I need to lose some weight...or get a bigger wetsuit Image ) I simply plucked up courage and wound the keel up… all seemed to go well; the bush fell back into place, the keel came up with its usual satisfying thump into the casing and she floated off. The bolt which goes thru the casing and holds the keel in place showed no signs of stress or any leakage and again looked in surprisingly clean condition.

Having got her back on the mooring and not having detailed knowledge of the keel operation I was nervous of putting the keel back downÂ…. If it came out there are 7 metres of pretty murky water below my mooring !! so I left it up for the time being.

Having looked at the drawings and photos on this site however I now feel pretty confident that all should be OK and that the bush coming up is what you would expect.

So at the risk of getting all pythonesque on you I am one lucky lucky luckyÂ…Â…Â…. Image

Has this or similar happened to anyone else and can anyone think of a reason why I shouldnÂ’t just put the keel back down ??



Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

gff_cook
Making way
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:08 am
Location: Levens, Cumbria

Running aground

Post by gff_cook » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:56 pm

Hi Sundance and skipper

You should have no worries! A keel bolt greasing guide suggests lowering the keel when a Swift is on its trailer or very shallow water so it pops up - exposing the threaded keel bolt for greasing.
Welcome to Swifts - be reallygood to meet up sometime, perhaps. Mine, Quadrille (s/no 60) is only fractionally younger than Sundance and hailed from Southampton 6 years ago to take up residence at Ferry Nab, Windermere; it had sojourned at Rutland Water sometime, too. I owe a debt to Ullswater, first sighting a Swift there - set me hunting and landing Q eventually.

Fair winds and good sailing!

Geoff Cook

CHERRY PIE
Cruising
Posts: 143
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2006 5:04 pm

Post by CHERRY PIE » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:10 pm

Welcome Ian,
First chance you get, I would take sundance into very shallow water just so she is barely afloat and wind the keel down. This will allow you to inspect the threaded bar and have a good look to see that it has not been bent out of true whilst resting on the shoreline. If it has suffered any damage (bent) then it will slowly damage the bush, indications of this would be very stiff when winding and possibly bits of the bronze bush winding out. If the threaded bar comes all the way out make sure you have a wire coat hanger to retreive the supported bush that may swing away on top of the keel, this will aid in relocating. Gary
Gary/Ruth & Skipper who used to sail a Swift 18

Post Reply