Attaching the keel! | Sailing Blog - Technical Hints and Tips - Sailing Television

Attaching the keel!

Today the keel was attached. In the old days there was a celebration when you laid the keel of a new boat - and this feels the same! With the Southerly the keel is in two pieces. The grounding plate and the keel itself. In this picture the swing keel is in the up position and ready to have the hull put on top. The hull is up in slings ready to be lowered in place. I have included all the pictures to show how it is done.
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The bottom of the hull is moulded with an inset shape to take the keel plate. You can also see the moulded slot into the hull for the keel when it is raised up. This picture also shows the width of the keel plate. Bolts are widely spaced giving tremendous strength.
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Here's a detail showing the plate and the hull moulding insert. The design of the boat allows her to dry out sitting on her keel. You can see she will sit on this grounding plate when she is aground - much safer than if she just sat on the fiberglass of the hull.

Final checking of the fit.

Keel installed and all done.

That's it for today... now back to editing Distant Shores! Sheryl and I are in the studio for the next few weeks until flying to the UK in September.

Paul


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