Feb 18 2008
Shivering Sheaves Batman!
Those of you who have been reading about Limpet for a while now know that in my first ever attempt to race the boat my keel cable broke. This resulted in a freewheeling 500LB lead keel almost ripping the bottom of the boat apart. One of the major reasons that my cable broke is that both of the brass sheaves (aka pulleys) had frozen up, causing the cable to grind the pulley like a drunk sorority chick on frat boy with a trust fund. This weekend I set about to fix the offending sheave.
I replaced the pulley under the keel winch when I replace the keel cable last year. However the pulley connected to the keel itself appeared to be an original and completely broken. I used axel grease to lube the cable until I could repair the pulley. I am not sure how long this thing was broken but from the grove cut into the brass from the cable it must have been years.
The first challenge is that I could not reach the pulley from the small access hole in my keel trunk. The keel needed to swing part way down so I could access the assembly, however this posed somewhat of a challenge with Limpet on her trailer. I decided to try jacking up the back end of the boat to see If I could get the keel far enough down to reach the pulley.
I used a floor jack set on a sturdy steel frame to lift the back of the boat, but after checking the angle it was clear I would need to lift the back of the boat about 7 feet to get the pulley to a position I could work on. What was required was a bigger access hole.
I grabbed my saws-all and made quick work extending my access hole by about 4 inches forward. Of course I managed to drop the removed fiberglass into the keel trunk. With the pulley accessible I made quick work of putting in a new sheave I had purchased from Gene Adams. Everything is now rolling and pulling as it was meant to.
I also added a inclinometer at the front of the cockpit to help me find the optimum heel angle.
