posted July 17, 2005 01:02 PM               

I was speaking with another Sandpiper in our club yesterday about the keel clunking in light wind. Has anyone else experienced this and come up with a solution? Our concern is it is a 200 pound hammer swinging down there.

posted July 17, 2005 06:33 PM               

Wait until the fall, after haul out to worry about it. What you do then, to rest easy, is to extend the keel down, at least an inch or two past your normal keel depth, ~95 turns. If there's wear in the trailing edge, the clunking may be coming from here. You can also check the opening of the trunk at the hull to look for any irregularities. See the next time you sail, if the problem is lessoned if you raise the keel a few turns.

If you're further concerned, check inside the cabin, at the top of the trunk. Check that the plate holding the bronze jack screw
is secured well. Check that the nuts are secured well.

All that being said, if you slightly hobbie horse, in light air, the clunking is something to expect IMHO. There's not much force holding the keel solid as you would with strong winds and a few knots of speed under your keel.

Where do you sail?

Eric

posted July 17, 2005 08:12 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by RyanS:
Hello All,Has anyone else experienced this and come up with a solution?
Ryan

---

It is in the Sandpipers retractable keel design. ALL should have experienced it.
The keel is only wobbling laterally and tapping agianst the inside sides of the keel box. Not much force going on there to make the noise.
Eric pointed out the common solution; raise the keel a few turns. This increases the amount of keel in the box and therefore the amount that it can wobble and therefore the tendancy to make the noise.

posted July 18, 2005 07:42 AM               

I am sailing on the Lake of Two Mountains along the Ottawa River just prior to the island of Montreal. For the most part the water is quite deep. The other owner had the idea to spray foam in around his to stop the clunking and then at the end of the year just clean it out and raise the keel. We have the luxury of a crane that is always available for hoisting the boat.

posted July 18, 2005 08:46 AM               

Here is my keel when I removed it last fall. You can see there is about 4-5 inches of keel remaining inside the trunk when the keel is lowered. Hope this gives you an idea on what is remaining inside.

Ryan I realise this is sort of last minute, but if you're available on the August long weekend, trailer your boats over to Parry Sound for our Sandpiper Rendevous. We'd love to have you guys attend

Eric

posted July 18, 2005 09:56 AM               

I especially hear it when we've dropped anchor for a swim or picnic, so despite the pain of it, I raise the keel. (It's considerably less painful since we re-greased the screw last fall!) If you adopt this strategy, just remember to lower it again before you get going!

Also, if it seems to take excessive effort to turn the screw, re-grease it. It's a fairly simple operation & here's a thread to help you. Here's another.

There is also this thread, which focuses more on the bearings at the top of the screw, for your fuller understanding.

Finally, here's another thread that gives you some good shots of the keel removed.

As you might be able to tell, the keel is a topic of great attention here!