Prevent Sun Cat Keel Scars

[capt_nemo]

For a photo description of a Trailer Modification to prevent keel scars, go to http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/catboat/index.cgi and click on recent post (2-8-11)entitled "Heartbroken over NEW Sun Cat Keel Scars".

[Salty19]

That is heartbreaking to scratch up a nice boat.  Nice solution to the problem, I may adapt it for the 19's trailer. So far not a problem but with wind and current...$10 of PVC may just save a future scar.

[kickingbug1]

 yet another example of sailor ingenuity. never met a group of people who can solve so many problems and usually on the cheap

[skip1930]

You old timers will recall that I lowered both hull bunks down and Comfort & Joy, my CP-19 sat on her keel balanced and supported by three of the four trailers and forward vee block winched tight.

I have rollers under my keel and I hack sawed all the keel bunks off. As they are always in the way, or the keel sits on the 2 x 6's and peels them off, or the keel was damaged putting the hull onto the trailer. Who needs them? I tried nylon straps similar to the PVC poles put on the Sun Cat trailer. That did not work.



This idea lowers the vee block and saves the dolphin cable under the bow sprit.

This did not work.


skip.

[capt_nemo]

The pictured nylon straps that did not work in the above post are definitely NOT the same as the PVC Pipe design solution that I added to the trailer in the original post (not rigid and not angled enough). Comparing the solutions for the two trailers may be like comparing apples to oranges. I'm not familiar with the exact geometry or dimensions involved between keel depth, keel guides, and bunk on the CP 19 Trailer, but the PVC Pipe Solution at a 45 degree angle guides the forward edge of the keel into the centering Keel Guides as the boat is pulled or pushed GENTLY forward onto the trailer. The centering keel guides then work quite well on the Sun Cat Trailer.The whole purpose of adding the angled PVC was to prevent the keel from going BETWEEN the Keel Guides and the side bunks which, if allowed to happen, causes the damage to the keel. I believe that a slightly modified version of the PVC Pipe Solution would, in fact, work quite well with Keel Guides on the CP 19 Trailer.

[Billy]

seems to me like on the 19 the keel 19s are pretty much useless. I have had big problems w/ the guides in the past shearing off when the keel comes down on to. I switched from 2x4 (or 2x6s) to 2x8s and replaced the rollers w/ a bunk. the 2x8 keel guides sit on the bunk and it has worked great since. but if I ever have another problem or once the wood rots I will do like skip and just cut them off.

I countersunk the blots into the guides and then wrapped the carpet over so it is smooth on the inside and then cut the back side of the bolt off on the front bolts. The rear bolts are usually deep enough that they couldn't come into contact w/ the keel even if it came on the trailer wrong. The images of the keel scars are on the front in the OP. But if it was a problem I could put a block covered in carpet on each side of the bolts and that would eliminate the problem too.

[Tom Ray]

Keel guides are supposed to solve problems, not create them. Sounds like all they do on a 19 is create them! I'd chop 'em off too!

They're just to help center the boat, and if you can center it without them (and with less drama) then they are just extra weight and more things to rot and corrode.

[skip1930]

Straps are not the same as PVC pipe. True. But the same idea.
When the bow is winched tightly into the vee block she pretty much falls in-line with the centerline of the trailer.
additionally I have two orange fiberglass driveway markers mounted from the trailer angled up and out that just barely touch the hull when she is centered up over the trailer. These hold position and show position well enough without wind.
Then out she comes, always centered up on the rollers.

skip.

[RCAN]

Skip,

You previously stated:

  "I have two orange fiberglass driveway markers mounted from the trailer angled up and out that just barely touch the hull when she is centered up over the trailer".

If it is possible some time, I would find it helpful if you would post a photo of this. I might be able to do this to my trailer if I have a better idea of the concept.

Thanks.

Robert

[skip1930]

Robert. See that one orange driveway marker mounted on a square [diamond shaped] aluminum plate bolted onto the starboard side of the trailer and that U-clamp holding the fiberglass rod in this photo? That's the set-up.

There is the identical set-up on the other side. That's the concept. And they do hold a floating boat in the center of the trailer when the bow is winched into the vee block.
Both rods just touch the hull when she's ready to be pulled out of the water. I like this set-up because I don't need to see the trailer under water. Just the rods above the water and if one orange rod is just touching the hull I know the other side is fine.

Also note the drop down lockable leg. Me and my unsightly pounds would raise the jack and ball hitch off the ground when I strode astern. But that was before I moved the trailer axle as far back as I could for more tongue weight. Before I moved the axle back it pulled funny. Unsafely funny.

DID you know with a trailer fitted with four rollers I could put a 5 inch long 2x4 length wise under the keel at the balance point and jack the whole boat clean off the trailer with a 2-1/2 ton floor jack? That is so cool! That's why I don't put a full length board under the keel. Who needs it?

skip.

[RCAN]

Skip,

I really appreciate it. I guess it was in a previous photo but I just did not know what I was looking at.

That gives me some ideas to work on.

Thanks.

Robert

[Tom Ray]

I like the "hull feelers" Skip. My dad had an old Lincoln Continental with similar gadgets.

[skip1930]

Tom Ray, That's so COOL! They are both BOATS LOL.
Curb feelers....gotta have them.

skip.