Swing Keel hold down?

Paul In Boston

New Member
Hello Sailors,
Just went out for the maiden sail in the Capri. I could not figure out how to secure the swing keel in the down position. The Handbook talks of a 4 ft piece of shockcord, but I found no illustration. It seems that I need to pull the the keek back towards the Barney Post with some stretch cord. Also, there are a pair of grommet holes forward in the cockpit for some sort of stretch cord which is long shreaded. Again, I could not see in the manual what these connect to.:)
 
The shock cord attaches to the top of the center board and then goes under the barney post and attaches to an eye hook located about 3 inches up from the bottom of the boat, inside. I replaced mine with a red bungee cord I bought at Lowes for about $8.00, there were two in the package. I can email you pictures of my stock setup if you would like, if so reply to [email protected] with you email address. Without this shock cord, the centerboard will not stay down. My boat is a 1987.
 
As I understand it, those two holes forward used to have a short piece of shock cord which went under the forward hiking straps, holding them up off the floor of the boat. My boat has the two holes but no cord.
 
Gregwcoats is right on both counts.

A 4 ft shock cord attached to the top of the centerboard, clips to the bottom inside of the transom.

You can buy one from CatalinaDirect.com or go to lowes and just put a 4 ft cord on it (I think it is 4 ft unstretched length).

The grommets at the bow end of the seats are for a bungee to run from seat (I used a 24 inch one, cut the hooks off of it, and knotted the ends to rebuild mine), under the front hiking straps to the other seat. It keeps the hiking straps high enough for the crew to easily hike out in a blow. the elevation of the front hiking straps is lower than the rear one, so something had to be done to raise them up since the attach points are too low on the bow side (below cubby hatch).
 
Swing Keel shock cord

OK, now it is clear that the shock cord runs to the rear transom eyebolt under the hiking strap (I wondered what that eyebolt was for) and not to the the barney post area. This makes sense since the shock cord is specified as 4 feet and it is a little over 4 ft from the eyebolt in the rear lower transom to the swing keel when fully back (down).

Thanks a lot to the community for this guidance. I'll get this set up before sail number 2.:)
 
Swing keel hold-down

I found my old shock cord has aged and wasn't holding well. It isn't a problem until you are solo in really blustery winds and trying to hike out and the centerboard is creeping up and chop was splashing over the bow and I was concerned of capsizing.

I had the twin lines that were used to raise the centerboard. I saw some diagrams where someone removed one, and rigged it up for a single line to raise the centerboard. I did this, and had the remaining cleat available, which I now use to pull down the centerboard.

I clipped a snap ring(carabiner) onto the barney post, a pulley would probably work better, but I used what I had. I ran one end of a line to the top of the centerboard, back to the snap ring, then forward to the available cleat. I ran the lines underneath the hiking straps.

This works great for me, especially for racing and when things get a little chaotic. I sailed out in the Choctawhatchee bay in Florida last week and loved the new setup. I use the one line to pull the centerboard down and I lock it in, then I lock the other line that raised the centerboard.... Now, it's locked in both directions and I am certain it is not going anywhere when I need it to stay put.

Be careful if you are in a body of water where you are prone to run aground, because there is no give. A sandy bottom did not cause much trouble for me when I hit bottom, often, in the bay. It does work well for going down wind or on a reach with some extra ballast of crew, I can pull the centerboard up to a 45 or higher and know it will stay put.

I could post a picture sometime if needed.

-Robert
1989 Capri 14.2 Mod 2
1984 Catalina 22
 
Swing keel hold down

Thanks for the suggestion. Being mindful of the caution about running aground, it sounds like that is a resonable solution.



P.S. Also A C22 and Capri owner/sailor!:)
 

Back
Top