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The keel on my V21 seems to move too much laterally ( left to right ). How much movement is usual for these swing keels? Im new to trailer boats, and just bought one about a month ago. It's a Venture 21 footer. Im in the process of refurbishing now and it's starting to look much better. I still don't know what to do about the interior cabin. It is bare, with alot of peeling paint. I would like to make it somewhat more comfortable and nicer looking inside. With living necessities, hopefully, with the small space available. Any suggestions greatly appriciated.

Suprisingly, no one has responded to your plea. I am familiar with the 26X, and the 224, and both have centerboards like yours. If you have access to the bolt that holds the CB, look to see if it looks worn, and/or if the board itself is worn. Replacing the bolt is always a good idea if you're in there, and you can perhaps add some rubber bushings on each side to take up the slack and remove, or reduce the lateral play. There should be some movement laterally so that the CB can be raised and lowered easily. Perhaps a search of "Centerboard" will uncover some info. Good luck, and enjoy the boat. Mac's are fun and forgiving

hanks for the reply, I was wondering if I had asked an incredibly stupid question. I have been putting off the task of removing the keel and repairing the hole and rust damage because of the weight I'll be dealing with by myself. It has a fiber or epoxy covering over the metal. I was hoping to just dig out all of the rust possible, spraying with rust block, filling the cavity with epoxy and glass over. I think I figured out a way to go about the removal of the keel by my lonesome.....maybe? Thanks again for responding to my ??

Does it have play when it is in the down position, or when its up? I think when the keel is let down the very top of it is wedged more tightly into the trunk and has less play. I may be wrong, but that's what I surmise.

Bill, at Macgregors told me that Macgregor designed these swing keel trunks so that the keel would slide sideways. This allows the keel trunk to take the lateral load in two places. The hole through the keel is some 1/8" larger than the 5/8" keel bolt.
Best Regards

I've never dropped the keel on my 222 but I recall reading somewhere about how to do it with a jack. It may have been from Brian Gilbert but I'm not positive. It may have been in here somewhere too.

I don't know what year your V21 is, but according to Blue Water Yachts, all of the early V17's and V21's had a smaller (1/2") pivot bolt. I have found that some of the V22/222's up to 1972 did, as well. If you have this setup, and the hole is "wallered out" (worn large enough to allow excess play), then upgrading to the current 5/8" pivot bolt kit may help you.

Both Brian Gilbert (Fix It and Sail) and I found 1/2" pivot pins on our 22's, with a plastic/nylon bushing in the keel to take up the extra room. The bushing was easy to drill out; Mr. Gilbert drilled his out on a press (keel was out), and I drilled mine straight through the trunk with a cordless 18V DeWalt hand drill. The hand drill did just fine. If you have this same nylon bushing on your keel, you won't have any trouble.

I asked that question to Bill at MacGregor and he said that the keel hole diameter was about 11/16" so that the keel would slide sideways after tacking and that this allows the stress to be exerted above and below on the keel trunk not on the keel swing bolt. He said it was a mistake to rebuild the keel hole to make it less wobbly. If the keel is too tightly held either in the keel bolt or in shimming the trunk that the stress would be on the bolt instead of on the trunk where it was designed to be. Does it chunk once in a while after tacking or during heavy weather sailing, yes it does and that is OK.

Yikes....that makes me wonder about the replacement pivot bolt kit, then. There are no instructions included in the kit or on BWY's website about drilling out the old hole diameter. Considering that the replacement bolt is 5/8" in diameter, what size drill bit should I be using???