Tech Notes
Index

This past winter I finally found the time to lift my boat and replace the nut on the keel lift jack. This is the bronze part that is a designed wear item and it had never been replaced on my boat. Signs of old age include an increasing difficultly lifting the keel and if the thing breaks then really bad things happen.

Unfortunately my work schedule has kept me from properly writing up the process and we even forgot to bring the camera. So I'll try to summarize from memory two months after the fact:

• You have to get the boat WAY off the ground in order to lower the keel all the way down. And you need the keel all the way down to easily get the jack mechanism out of the boat. Lifting your boat is left as an exercise for the reader. We used two straps and four come-alongs.
• Once the keel is down, remove the bolt that attaches the jack to the keel. Be sure you order a replacement for this when you order your new keel nut. Mine was bent "U" shaped, but we ended up reusing it anyway as we didn't have a replacement on hand.
• Don't try to back the off the jack to disassemble. There is a wiper/bearing mechanism inside that won't let the jack come apart this way. At least that was the way it worked on mine.
• First remove the brass nut from the top part of the jack using a BIG WRENCH. Be sure you are turning the right way.
• Then remove the wiper/bearing from the lower part of the jack so that you can thread the brass nut off the jack screw.
• Thread the new nut on with plenty of grease. The new nut is about twice as long and will be very tight going on.
• Replace the wiper/bearing
• Screw the top part of the jack back on with plenty of "Blue" locktite. Don't skip the loctite - it keeps the thing from welding itself together and becoming impossible to remove in the future while at the same time preventing it from loosening and falling off by itself.
• Reassemble. Be sure to connect your keel position string.

Title: Replacing Swing Keel Lifting Mechanism 
Model(s): First 210 
System(s): Keels 
Author: Jay Harrell