We started at the back, by working our way up with this bottle jack. The jack I had on hand, was a mechanical bottle jack, meaning that you rotate a socket on the bottom of the jack to raise and lower the jack...hence, the cordless drill. It worked pretty well, on the back. In hindsight, I would have went ahead and shored the sides up, and let the boat rest on the timber, instead of putting the 3/4 inch plywood in between.



The bottle jack, or rather the cordless drill decided that the bow end was more that it wanted...I stated, as I was cranking the jack up with a tire tool...that "if that damn drill were 12volts, it would have lifted it!" Whereupon, Cody grabbed the drill, looked at it and said, "It IS 12 volts." To which I said..."If that damn drill were 18 volts, it would have lifted it!" Then everybody had a good chuckle. Except me...as it turned out, even I didn't want to lift it...After a few more minutes of grunting...I went and got a hydraulic bottle jack, which lifted it like it wasn't even there.



If you will look very closely at the above picture, you will notice that I have a single stack of blocks under the jack. (As embarrassing as it is to mention, I feel that I should add this, to help others from making the same mistake.) A few minutes after the above picture was taken, with the new jack in place, the bow shifted and the stack, with the jack fell over, and the bow of the boat pivoted around sideways about two feet. We already had timbers and two double stacks of blocks under the bow of the boat, which caught it, and if they had not been there, the trailer would have caught it. Even though...it was quite a few minutes before my wife's heartbeat was back to normal! (Understandable, considering that I was still in the same position under the boat.) Once I felt the movement, and knew that it was happening, I just called out, "Watch it, there she goes!" and layed under the trailer...where I was safe...From the bystander's line of site, I imagine it was a scary scene! I should have had a double stack under the jack for proper support. That would have prevented it. As it was, because we were going slow, and being careful, it was a minor incident...instead of a major one.

With the timbers I had, there were two obstacles to overcome. The tires, and the taillights & roller bars. Both were too wide to clear the stacks of blocks. So we jacked the bow up, and supported it with the timbers. We then pulled the trailer up as far as we could, jacked the bow up again...moved the timbers and blocks behind the tires, let the bow down...rolled the trailer forward to the tailights, and did it again. Tedious, but we were being very cautious at this point. ;-)

Isn't it funny, how working on a boat draws the attention of others? One of our neighbors sat on his porch and watched us, the entire time. (That is my neighbor & 1st cousin Cory in the pic.) At this point, we have cleared the tires, moved the trailer as far as we could, and have jacked her up to remove the timbers and blocks. We will move the trailer up one more time, rebuild the stacks, and lower the bow onto the timbers.



TaDA! The trailer is clear. At this point, we have jacked the bow up one more time, to allow the middle support stack to be placed. It is a single stack, but it is only taking the weight...The two double stacks on the outsides are providing the lateral support.



Speaking of support...I thought I might need to add some extra...So I cut these supports from 3/4in plywood, and nailed them into place.




Yay! The keel came right down...I had read several horror stories of swing keels frozen into the trunk...Of course...it's not OUT yet....



I was kind of shocked...But the keel winches mount is not attached to the boat in any way!...Is that normal?!?! It just sits there...Which is great when there is 575 LBs of tention on it...but what about when underway?



Well, that's it for now...Next? That keel has got to come out!

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Christmas...'06

Well, what can I say...This is the first time in my life, that an inanimate object (It's OK... the boat can't work the puter...) recieved more gifts than anyone in the family.
 

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Project #2  Removal of the Keel

Well here it is in all of it's splendid glory...All of it's "not ever coming out" glory...The Keel.




Just like several articles I have read on the web, my keel just sat there when I removed the pivot bolt. I cranked it back up...I let it back down...Then Renee' cranked it up and let it down, while I watched it intently...All the while expecting a THUD, when it hit the ground under the boat...It didn't...It just continued to pivot, even without the bolt.
Well, I am not one to take "no" for an answer, and just like "Sir John" , eventually this keel is "coming out."

Some of those other articles detailed sawing , or chiseling the fiberglass out around the top of the keel...all the while, hoping that the keel didn't pop out and land on your face...By now, we know that safety is not optional...Besides, that sounds like a lot of work, and debris in the face is NOT my idea of fun. (Especially 575 pounds of debris!)



Leverage.
The Egyptians used it for the pyramids ...The Romans used it for their coliseum. SOMEBODY used it at Stonehenge!
Now here I am, in my backyard aspiring to greatness! hahaha
I placed the 3X3 timber as far up as it would go, and not slide back out. At first, Renee' cranked on the winch until she injured herself pulling too hard on it. "Hey Cody!" I yelled...We can't get this to come up...Do you think you might be strong enough to get it?" (Sometimes my psycological genius scares even me.) He juanted right over and cranked on the winch for all he was worth...



"Movement!" "Hah-HA!" I yelled...As Cody grunted and groaned in the cockpit...(It's OK..He's a teenager...Grunting and groaning is practically second nature for him! Mostly groaning and whining...So grunting and groaning was a decided improvement!)



It's almost amazing that it's still hanging on for dear life in the trunk...That is the bolt hole for the pivot bolt, peeking out from under the boat!
"Crank it, Cody! It's almost there!" (It's very important for a cheering section, 'er, I mean Management to provide a "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling for the laborers...)



A few more grunts from above, and "Pop!".  The keel fell from it's home for the last 35 years, to the ground below. "Yay" said I..."Thank GOD!" said Cody.
 

Rust is a four letter word. Along with a few select others, that I chose to leave out of this commentary...Glad I bought those new grinding wheels...This is why it wouldn't slide out...Water intrusion at the top of the keel (or front, if it's in the "up" position.) had caused the iron to rust and expand, causing the fiberglass to split, allowing more water intrusion...etc. etc. It was effectively "wedged" into the trunk.



A new Two Stage(speed) Winch with a brake is about 80 bucks on eBay...(Not a lot of boat parts places here in middle Georgia.) So, I may see what I can do, about cleaning this one up. The new ones are VERY nice though, and this one is only one speed. But it does have a brake...That keeps the winch from running away from you and letting the keel fall, and cracking your wrist into pieces with the spinning handle...(That will be my sales pitch to Renee', if I decide to get the new one...heheheh)
NOW...Let's see if I can find some Egyptians or Romans, or space aliens to help me get it over to the shop...Cody just went on strike.
This is gonna be fun...I can tell.


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Have you ever heard of "Yin & Yang"? The balance of all things in the universe? Well, after such a display of brilliance in the removal of the keel, there was bound to be an equal display of stupidity...you know...to keep the balance.
Actually, I was just thinking of nautical ways to make this happen...At least that is my excuse...lol
I have use of several wreckers, but for some reason, I wanted to do this without using any equipment that the average person wouldn't have easy access to... go figure.
I was trying to work out how to load a 575 pound keel into my pickup truck, because (in another keen display of foresight) the shop is about 450 feet from the boat. I had some double blocks and the kids never use that swing set anyway, so I figured that there would be no problem rigging a system to lift the keel up and into the truck.

Boy...What was I thinkin?! LOL
I could lift the light side...but the bulb was considerably more "gravitationally challenged", and was not going to leave the ground. What to do...



AH....Modern technology...A trip to Harbor Freight, and $10.99 (plus tax) later and the keel is off the ground! (Easily... might I add.) Thanks to a 2ton Come-A-Long, and a time-delayed imagination.


Tune in later, for another episode of:
"What the hades, have I gotten myself into?!?!"

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OK! Time for DESTRUCTION!!! BWAHAHAHAH!

The tools of choice for this job was a 4 inch side grinder with a grinding wheel and a 7inch wire cup, a ball peen hammer and a couple of chisels.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see (1) that the bulb is made of lead. (2) The iron plate that is the backbone of the keel is completely rusted over. (3) there was an impact in the front of the keel that resulted in a spiderweb-like series of cracks in the resin just above the bulb...If you look closely you can see one crack run right under the fiberglass there on the right side of the resin. Before I was done, I found several other cracks (on both sides...) that were not visible until the skin was lifted. 

     
Depending on your mindset...you might say that "Venture spared no expense, when they made the V24!" . My mindset however, was more like; "Good Lord! This is SOLID resin...No wonder they folded." I assume that, for ease of production they assembled the keel in a mold and filled it in with resin...A LOT of resin...I am guessing about three gallons of it...In some places it was over two inches thick! No wonder it was cracking. In the second picture above, you can see another crack that was not visible, until uncovered. In the third pic, I carefully removed some of the resin, so that you could see bow big that crack was. The material there is about 1 1/2 thick. The fiberglass you can see is the back of the skin on the other side of the keel.



Can you say..."delamination"... boys and girls?
I knew you could...;-)

As you can see in the first and third pics above, there is quite a bit of rust built up on the steel! In the second pic, you can see how the resin fell away from the steel once I broke away all of the top side. Obviously, it had delaminated over the entire surface, and had suffered from extensive water intrusion.



I still can't get over how much solid resin was used for the keel! That piece in the middle is about 5 inches across, and over an inch thick. I don't know how to tell the difference between cured polyester or epoxy resin...but if it is epoxy, it would run you about $300.00 to do it this way at today's prices.

One could assume that by making the keel in this manner made it stronger, but if you look closely you can see the cracks spreading away from an apparent impact area, much like they would in a "bullseye" on a car windshield. Of course, let's not forget that this keel is 35 years old...I still can't imagine it being superior (or cost effective) to a plywood cored laminate. The weight difference would be negligible.


That is one of two bolts running through the lead halves, sandwiching them to the steel...I will probably leave this alone, but if I'd had a hand in the original construction, I would have recessed a washer here, to spread the force a bit. The steel looks pretty good down near the bulb, so it didn't suffer water intrusion, nearly as bad as...the top...



Here is the top-end of the "backbone" of the keel, after cleaning...That is the hole for the locking bolt, not the pivot bolt...Both holes are degraded, but you can just make out where this hole has been filled before...I also saw a few spots that had been repaired, when I was chiseling...(dark blue bottompaint, under the repairs...) so this is not the first time this keel has been out. There was a very interesting article in Good Old Boat Magazine last month...The author used graphite as a filler in epoxy to make a bearing-like surface. I think I will use that to fill, & drill these two holes, although the reduced friction will only make a big difference on the pivot. 
It would be just about impossible to remove 100% of the rust, so I placed an order to Eastwood (Automotive and Restoration products)  for some special paint that will penetrate and "arrest" the rust, and prime the metal at the same time. They advertise that it can be used under or over Bondo (Note...Bondo is resin & talcum...not for boats. However... it's ability to stick should apply with all resins), but I will still test another piece of metal for adhesion, before I spray it all over the keel! At $29.94 for a 16oz spraycan (shipped), it was probably an excessive use of funds... Considering that this is 35 years of degradation...once we get this back together right...it should last 150 years or so...HAHAHA



Tune is later, for our next episode...
"Hey, I don't think this will be too bad!" ;-)

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