#21995
AOA
Keymaster

Hi Doug

Good to hear from you. Well done for playing Keels!
I am not sure that I fully understand your question in full. I am also far from expert in keel mechanism maintenance – I hope that one of our Keel Gurus will respond….

From my experience, if you have removed the keels now is an excellent time to service the pressure plates. You can do a certain amount in terms of inspection and greasing with the plates still hanging on the two (upper) clamping bolts, particularly if you have removed the keelbox cappings in the main cabin forward of the main bulkhead. The plates should be easy to move. If they are badly corroded you may want to drop them out for cleaning up by removing the two upper bolts. They are relatively easy to align for bolt replacement by supporting them from above.

Does that make sense?
Nick