Jaguar 21 Lifting Keel Renovation by Adrian Lumb

The following is text & photos of my experiences with Naiad a 1994 boat sail No 39. Please feel free to reproduce this information, but the author accepts no liability for any errors or omissions. Anyone undertaking this work should take full precautions to support the keel weight in a safe manner.

I replaced the keel lifting strap and refurbished the winch as a precautionary measure.

To obtain access the marine ply keel case had to be removed, this entailed removing the cooker & sink unit as it is all attached. (It would be simpler if the top sections of the keel case sides were detachable separately. This is an option for modification)

The keel on this boat is raked back and the lifting strap goes straight up from the winch over one roller and down to a pin that goes through the top of the aft roller assembly. The keel has a roller assembly bolted onto the leading & trailing edge. A picture of the roller assemblies & keel can be seen courtesy of Jim Hamilton, on the Jaguar web site, under the heading of "Replacing the webbing strap that lifts the keel"

This boat does not have a locking pin, so as the boat was on a trailer I chocked the keel in the fully up position. To gain access to the strap retaining pin in the roller I had to machine a 25mm hole through the fiberglass keel housing.

The pin is had a thread on the port side and plain diameter on the starboard side, on this side there was a screwdriver slot. As I was unable to unscrew the pin I carefully drilled out the thread on the port side & drifted the pin out. The pin has a 3/8" whitworth thread. I used a stainless steel bolt and cut the head off & cut a screw driver slot. It is important to use a bolt with a plane diameter on the shank, otherwise the strap will be bearing on sharp threads.

I then obtained a new strap. I used a lorry ratchet strap and cut the metal fitting off. This gave me a certified 5ton capacity sewn loop on one end of the 50mm wide webbing. The old strap was 2470mm from loop to loop.

I cut the new strap and heat sealed the cut at a length of 2600mm. As I did not have a loop to use on the winch end I riveted the strap to the winch. I used 1/4" pop rivets with large heads through holes in the webbing created by poking a heated nail through thereby sealing the webbing. The web was secured in a way that the end was folded back over the original loop bolt. Against the direction of winding. This gave a secure fixing utilizing the friction of the pre-turns on the winch. This just left the fiddly bit of getting the webbing loop on place on the top roller assembly and fitting the pin.

Word of warning here, do not forget to refit the wood work that the webbing goes through. Now just put all the wooden casing back in place.

Refurbish of the winch is straight forward just ensure that the friction pad is kept clear of oil & grease. My winch was quite rusty so I dismantled it and shot blast the component parts then painted with Hammerite.

I hope you find this information useful - Adrian Lumb

Replacing the webbing strap that lifts the keel

• some observations from owners that have done it Firstly, some observations from Andy Long A lot will depend on the particular arrangement in the boat, as there have been a number of mods over the years. My boat was one of the first built and did not even have a locking pin to hold the keel up or down - hence the problem occurred to me - that to change the strop when afloat would be impossible. I have done a number of mods to overcome this. First, I made a pin arrangement to support the keel in the "up" position, so that I can let the tension off the strop. Then, in order to get the strop bolt out of the aft roller bracket on the keel, I made a 1" hole through the keel inner and outer casings (fibreglass and plywood) on the port side. This hole lines up with the strop bolt (when the keel is right up) and is big enough for a 13mm socket. On the starboard side, there was already a 4" hole in the fibreglass keel casing, aft. So, with the outer plywood panel removed, no mod was required on this side. With the boat ashore, of course, the pin is not needed, as the keel can be blocked at a convenient height, so that it may be possible to remove the strop bolt via the 4" hole on the starboard side without needing access from the port side. However for this to be possible, the nut will have to be on the port side! It should be possible to reach the nut with a spanner via the second (larger) access hole in the keel case starboard side with the keel lowered slightly. Again, individual boats will vary as to the size and position of these access holes. The second, 6" diameter hole, is provided to access the nylon bosses at top of the keel. These are the round nylon bosses which act as "stops" to prevent the keel lowering right out of the boat. They are attached by a length of studding (which is screwed through a threaded hole in the keel) and nuts on either side. I could not really see the point in using studding and have replaced it with a plain (and stronger) stainless bolt, after drilling out the threaded hole in the keel. I put the nut on the port side. Now, when I have to take the keel out, I can remove both bosses from the starboard side. On my boat, there is also an access hole on the port side for the port boss, though removal of the boss required the port plywood panel and galley to be dismantled and removed first! Fraser Monaghan writes... I bought my J21 at the end of last year, it had been laid up and neglected for 5 years so and required a bit of maintenance and TLC. Having read an article in "Sailing Today" (Sept 2000), of a J21 whose keel suddenly parted company with the boat to the depths below, it raised my concerns as to the condition of the strap. I removed the wooden panels around the keel case, at the top of the keel box, are, on each side, 2 circular holes of about 4 inch dia. The middle ones - about half way along exposed 2 large nylon washers about 1.5 inch dia & .5 inch dia thick, on each side and bolted through. I did not try to remove them, I think their purpose is to provide lateral support as the keel slides down the casing. The aft circular holes allow inspection of the webbing eye, secured to the aft end, mild steel channel plate bracket by a rod which appears to have a slotted end (or slotted both ends?). Like yourself, screwdrivers and impact driver would not move it, eventually after much sweating & swearing, having burned out several drill bits, the rod was weakened sufficiently and driven out. A new rod was made up from 10mm dia, stainless steel bar, threaded at one end and slotted at the other to take a screwdriver. The threaded end is well greased and bound in PTFE tape to ensure it won't rust. I intend to inspect it on a regular basis. A new strap was made up by Lifting & Crane Services, Unit 2, Subrook Trading estate, Llanthony Road, Gloucester, GL2 5QZ. (Tel 01452 504266) with a sewn loop at the end & certificate to 2T!! This firm provided an excellent service & charged £5 Inc P&P. Excellent value I think. The boat was on a trailer, using the winch it was now possible to drop and raise the keel 18 inches or SO. I removed a GRP panel on the hog and a very old brittle rubber seal, the purpose of which would be to act as a baffle and restrict mud etc from getting into the keelbox and to stop wave splash inside the keelbox. With this removed, limited inspection of the keelbox was possible from under the boat. From inside the boat, through the cut holes, using a small mirror it was just about possible to view the keel operation from the top. With the boat now in the water it is possible to lower & raise the keel and this operation appears to be satisfactory, but fairly heavy work on the winch is required. I have marked the winch strap to show when to stop lowering and then insert the retaining pin. Mike Senior, Jaguar 21 sail no.84 (Peterborough, sailing mainly from King's Lynn) The problem I encountered when changing the strap was that the bolt to which it is attached was rusted in solid. As far as I could see there was not enough clearance to sew a new strap in situ, though one end was plain with no loop. On my boat there was a small access hole on one side (starboard | think) but the screw head was on the port side. There might be screwdriver slots on both ends. After breaking screw drivers including impact driver blades I drilled the screw out from the rear but because the screw was stainless in a mild steel channel (I think) the drill wandered and damaged the channel threads. I did get it all back together with a new screw and filler on the damaged thread but really wanted to replace the channel. I could probably cut out a bigger access hole but that might weaken the keel box so the only way seems to be to remove the keel. I think the keel can be removed through the bottom if the plastic stops are first removed. As far as I remember there are three of these though I'm not sure how accessible they are except that I thought | could remove them. To lower it fully you need clearance below, which I don't have on my trailer so I considered digging a hole and/or jacking up the trailer. Alternatively it might be possible to hoist the boat if the right equipment was available. The other problem would be getting it back in again in such a restricted space and I thought of making a support frame to hold it just before it came out. Jim Hamilton (Sandy Patch, now at Bucklers Hard) writes...... For interest I have these two photos of my keel being re-furbished by JK Marine (at Dell Quay). They manufactured hwn now slider hoxes which can be coon with one of the old ones which had rusted up Farly ( ed since. JK Marine did a Jaguar 21 keel overhaul by John Duff I have just had to overhaul the keel on my jaguar21, I wondered if anybody might be interested in my methods. I found it quite a daunting prospect but in reality it was not so bad. I used a local fabricator and machine shop. I would be happy to pass on any details or help any other members with the same task. Contact me by e-mail I have modified a pallet rack capable of taking the weight of the boat. It is 9 feet high, 9feet long and 5feet wide I have modified the top by adding an H frame of 1" hand rail This supports 4 lifting chain winches one at each corner. This rig enables easy removal from the trailer and will lift the boat high enough to drop the keel. First job is to remove the starboard cladding from the keel box, this will reveal a cut-out at the top of the keel box. You will see the big nylon stops held by a 10mm bolt to remove these you have to cut a hole in the portside ply, this saves dismantling the galley and can easily be covered later. This is also a good time to gain access to the winch strap retainer using the same hole-saw cut a hole in the starboard side so you can have easy access to the retaining pin for the future. Remove the plate and gasket underneath. Now you can see a bracket holding a roller attached to the back of the keel box this maybe rusted away but it an essential stop and guide for the keel. Now the keel can be lowered all the way. I made a small trolley, from a piece of old worktop with 4 shopping trolley castors. Remove the strap pin and lower onto the trolley. Having removed all of the old brackets I had the keel blasted back to good metal, filled it and added several coats of epoxy, undercoat and antifouling. I had new brackets made in stainless steel with new rollers and pins by a company in Sandy. Now the keel is in better condition than new, with all stainless running gear a new gasket and winch strap. So putting it back. Attach an extension to the winch strap and hoist away, when the keel is upright you can remove the extension and fix the strap permanently. Now with the keel lined up lower the boat over it, once the keel is in the box you can do the rest on the winch. Once the keel is up secure with the retaining pin, refit the nylon stops to the top of the keel and the stop/roller underneath, replace the base plate with its new gasket and that's it for another 20 years. I think the keel strap should be changed at the first sign of wear or within a five year period regardless I have not sealed the gasket in place because I think it should also be replaced on a regular basis. I would think any Jaguar 21 keel that has not had these mods is in need of inspection. To lose a keel, the strap has to break, the top stops have to fail and then the rear roller runner has to get passed the lower stop/roller. It's too risky to leave. My roller brackets had all but rusted away.