Barton Garber wrote:
have a santan thats in the water for the summer....
.....Seems the keel is
jambed up and cannt seem to be able to pry it down
Could be a couple of things. Ugly critters like to grow in the lift keel
well, they can jam it solid. OTOH it also may have a jammed pivot bearing.
The best thing to do is take it out of the water, and take the lift keel
& mechanism totally off; but since you don't want to do that, rig a line
under the boat to support the weight of it and take off the raise/lower
mechanism, and see how much access you can get to the top of it. Maybe
with a dowel & hammer you can get thing loose from above & inside. If
it's a jammed pivot bearing, be prepared for the problem to get worse!
I know a number of people who have done total rebuild jobs on their lift
keels- removed, sandblasted, refinished, remounted with new pivot &
winch... it's a lot of work but none said it wasn't worth the time &
trouble. YMMV
Fresh Breezes- Doug King