have a santan thats in the water for the summer,has been out of the
water for 2 full years,then it was pulled out i had thought that it
wasnt barring right and had to much drift but then things happened and
didnt get back to it. This year it seems the same heavy winds seen to
just carry it along the surface,and cannt head up wind much.So i
jumped over the side the other day to check it out.Seems the keel is
jambed up and cannt seem to be able to pry it down and dont want to
damage the bottom,but woukd also like to try to fix it in the
water,was wondering if the line might be jambed or could it just be
something that grow in there, was thinking about clamping a vice to it
and tring to beat it down,but have second thoughts and a tight budget,
any ideas would be helpfull thanks Bart
have a santan thats in the water for the summer,has been out of the
water for 2 full years,then it was pulled out i had thought that it
wasnt barring right and had to much drift but then things happened and
didnt get back to it. This year it seems the same heavy winds seen to
just carry it along the surface,and cannt head up wind much.So i
jumped over the side the other day to check it out.Seems the keel is
jambed up and cannt seem to be able to pry it down and dont want to
damage the bottom,but woukd also like to try to fix it in the
water,was wondering if the line might be jambed or could it just be
something that grow in there, was thinking about clamping a vice to it
and tring to beat it down,but have second thoughts and a tight budget,
any ideas would be helpfull thanks Bart

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