The Keel Went Thunk! And Then it Rolled ... (pics)

[Concordia..41]

I never doubted it for a second (sometimes I didn't understand the "boatyard engineering"), but Dave got the ballast off yesterday at 1:22 p.m.

http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/ballastdownlg.jpg

Nicky's usually pretty adept at dodging the camera lens, but this is Nick Xynides - boatyard owner, shipwright, and friend.

http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/pulling3lg.jpg

More pictures and details at:

http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/removingballastkeel.htm

[nedL]

Horay !! smile.gif - it looks like everything went just like the 'instruction book' said it would. How often does that happden? Congrats.

[Bruce Taylor]

Well done.

[trull]

Well done!
I would be interested to see pictures of the original keel bolts and then the floor bolts.

[Wild Dingo]

YYYEEEEEEEHAW! Well done all... excellent... and now for our next trick??? :eek: Somehow I feel a part of all this work... sorta long distance supervisor?? REALLLY... REALLLY.. LONG DISTANCE! :D

Mind now Im wondering just exacly youve been up to with poor old Dave Margo... seems to me he musta been a wee naughty lad was our Dave to cop this in the ear! and mmmmmm you didnt even remove it for the pic? now what exacly was it you jammed into his earhole?? :rolleyes:

http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/bungieandsawsall..jpg

See that thingy? Just what is it Margo me dear? :D

Take it easy
Shane

[ken mcclure]

That's a variation of the "Denver boot." Dave didn't pay a parking ticket, and the police clamped it on there till he pays up, since they couldn't find his car.

[Ed Harrow]

Back from Lurkerdom...

Some folks have all the toys, LOL. RR track, flanged wheels, yeegads how can I do that? How'd you lower that hunk of iron into its movable corral? I've got to show this to Mike the Hook to see what he might be able to find.

[Noah]

Ed, my local metal scrap yard has lots of rail road track kicking around for not much money. IE like $15 for 15ft. Not sure what you would do for wheels, but I bet you could find something...

Drop that ballast soon...

Noah

[Art Read]

Man, that's impressive... From the pictures, it looks like you just braced the hull at the bow with offset jackstands in order to get that "prop" under the forekeel out of the way while you rolled the ballast forward? Still... must have been a little "scary" knocking that prop out, no matter HOW carefully you'd thought it through beforehand, eh? Looks like it all went as smooth as silk. Well done!

One thing I'm curious about... The "jacking up" operation was equally impressive, (and scary looking!) But there must have been a reason you couldn't have just used a travel lift instead of those railroad jacks? I'm sure I'm missing something. Too much stress in the wrong places with all the strucural work going on perhaps? Or maybe just no travel lift available in that yard?

Thanks for the updates... Inspiring!

[Concordia..41]

Ed Harrow asks:

How'd you lower that hunk of iron into its movable corral? Gravity my dear friend, gravity! tongue.gif ;)

And correct Art, there's no travel lift available :(

Seriously, Dave will be in a bit with better answers.

[ 05-29-2002, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]

[Concordia..41]

The two ballast cradles were made from 4” x ¼” square tube. I get the tube from a welding shop and all but the two bottom cross pieces that I already had were cut to size by the welding shop. ($36.00 for the tube as it was drops from another job. Get it on Friday afternoon if possible, the guy needs money for the weekend.)

The bottom cross bars were made long enough to add wedges so the ballast can be moved. The uprights were made short enough not to get in the way of the saw when cutting the keel bolts. The horizontal bars were made to sit at the level of the launching wheels, how high we had jacked the boat, minus a little room for 2” x 6”’s and oak wedges. A 2” x 8” was driven under the ballast on the front cradle and oak wedges were driven between the wood block on the launching wheels and the horizional bars to get the ballast tight. By using plumb bobs the tracks were lined up with the keel and leveled, while the double flanged wheels gave a piece of mind, they really were not necessary as the center of the wheels were still on the center of the track at the end of the pull. Hope they will be in the same place when it rolls back, but if not I will move it with the wedges. Nicky has made a believer of me in the power of a big hammer and good oak wedges.

I pulled the ballast out with a cable come-along so that we could take it slow. The launching wheels have no bearings, only grease so it had to be pulled, but not with much force.

The ballast did not really fall that far when the last bolt was cut, it just settled a little or may be the boat raised, there was a small thud.

I was going to use two pieces of channel iron for the tracks and pipe rollers to move it but Nicky had the wheels and the track.

ED
I don’t see why you could not use pallet jacks except it looks like you would have to bring it out to the side of the boat. I looked at doing it that way but the jack stands were in the way. I used a lot of jack stands. Heavy equipment movers have these roller pads that they put under each corner of heavy equipment. You may be able to rent a set over a weekend. You will still need a cradle and something solid to roll them on. That would be true if you used pallet jacks. You have the same problem I have, a dirt floor.

What ever you decide, brace the boat and the ballast good and don’t have too much help around when you move it. It’s kind like too many cooks spoil the stew.

Dave

Sun over the foreyard.

PS Missed seeing Finbar last Sunday.