Hi Sean: Since you're 1/3 of the way down, then your situation isn't as bad as it might be. I'm assuming you're on the trailer, and the boat is positioned back a foot or so it clears the slot, right? If you give the keel a whack on the side with a hammer, do you get showered with rust flakes? That's the way it was with mine... tons of loose rust that came off the keel when hit with a hammer. Don't go nuts with a sledge... I'm just talking about a reasonable hit, with no more force than when driving a nail. The way I got mine to drop is by hammering on the sides. I got a long (maybe 5') bar of 1/2"round steel that I had laying around, touched the side with one end, and hammered on the other. 10 or 15 hits on one side, then I'd walk around to the other and repeat. Each whack brought more rust. I'd stop occasionally and try to dislodge rust with a thin piece of strap steel, kind of like a giant feeler gauge. I'd run this up the sides as far as I could go (don't position yourself directly under the keel in case it lets go suddenly.) I got a little rust out this way, but most came out by hammering. Eventually the keel started to move, and it dropped down. All told, took maybe an hour and a half of poling and hammering. Once I got it to drop, I removed, sandblasted, faired, and reinstalled the beast. This probably isn't the best way to get it out, but it was the best I could come up with, and didn't seem to damage anything. Hope this helps BG -- Brian Gilbert Marine Media Author, Fix It and Sail (423)876-9990 3404 Hartford Drive Chattanooga, TN 37415 www.sailingsmall.com on 12/30/05 11:53 PM, montgomery_boats-request@mailman.xmission.com at montgomery_boats-request@mailman.xmission.com wrote:
Hey everyone. Anybody got any surefire ways of getting a very stuck rusted keel out of a keel trunk, other than bashing it out (delicately of course :-)) from above. Seems as how over the last 45 days our keel which worked fine when we picked up the boat in Fla. has fused to the keel trunk. I have been able to get it maybe 1/3 of the way down but that has involved a lot of force from above and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier! For today its Sean O, Keel 1. I feel kinda sheepish about saying that I put pics on my website, but the number of hits that thing is getting boggles my mind. Almost 800 hits in 20 days, so someone is looking! So.....I put updated pics of the Bottom/Blister/and now Keel Removal saga on the website at www.havasumontgomerys.funtigo.com. Misery always loves company so come check it out!!! I really just want to sail the dang thing. Maybe I can talk Bones into bringing his down here for a winter sail and taking me for a ride!
Happy new year
Sean