HELP!
    I dropped my keel this past Spring.  I removed about a 1/2inch of corrosion and replaced the cable.  After reading information on this web site abput dropping the keel, I realized that I may be missing parts. When I dropped my keel, there was no crash bumper or evidence that there ever had been one, also I never realized that one was required (until I read that this is indeed a part of the keel).
     We put our PD in the water and have sailed several times, but right from the beginning the keel was moving and thumping. I began to realize that something was not right with the keel and while we were sailing the cable broke.
    I think that after removing the 1/2 inch of corrosion that it left way too much play in the keel.  Do I need to add polypropalene shim sheets?  Would this solve movement of the keel?
Curantly, the cable being broken and no crash bumper, the keel is banging against the hull.  (Big trouble, I guess) []

This summer I removed my keel and had it sandblasted.  My hull is 310, and though I have read of earlier PD's having a foam crash bumper built into the keel, my keel did not have one.  As soon as I get the keel back in the boat I will be publishing some pics if anyone is interested.   LL

Knotshore, I hope you have resolved your problem by now..The keel CAN be drawn up by slipping a rope noose around it, feeding the free end up through the hole in the centerboard trunk, over the pully and onto the winch. It is possible to reach up into the trunk with the free end of the line using just a snorkle and mask. At least then you can get the boat back onto the trailer. You can also replace the cable by intentionally beaching the boat and pulling her over on her side until the keel can be lowered enough. And yes, polypropylene sheets are used on each side to shim the keel and stop it from moving around. Maintaining the cast iron keel is a constant battle.

When I did this, I disconnected one of the outer shrouds and used this as the "pull-over" line...This puts quite a load on the one inner shroud holding the mast up, but it held OK. I have also gone up the mast to the spredders and tied a line at that point. I used a Danforth anchor hooked into the beach sand and a come-a-long to pull the boat over on her side. It did not take tremendous force to roll the boat over.
   To refloat her, I set a second anchor 50' out in the water with a single pully (snatch block) attached to the anchor so I could pull from the beach. At high tide, we pulled her in stern first. The prop is high enough to stay out of harms way..[8D]