Keel noise

[Anonymous]

Hello
We have 26 X, with the drop down keel. We were on the boat, tied up to a mooring on Okanagan lake. 9 knots of wind with white caps on the waves. What we notice was the loud noise coming from the keel, I pulled the keel up the noise was gone. But the boat was getting tossed around badly.
My question is that noise typical ?
And how hard is this on the keel?

[Kelvin Dueck]

Yes, the noise is typical. I generally raise my centerboard if I am on a dock due to the noise. However, as you’ve noticed, if you raise your centerboard at anchor, you wander around a lot.
One option: with the centerboard down, run a long dock line along one side of your boat (ie the port side) under water, and then slowly bring the front end of the line around the bow to the starboard side. Do the same at the stern (ducking the line under the motor shaft). If you then cleat this line off, it will snug the centerboard against the boat and diminish the clanging.
Just don’t forget to remove the line in the morning!

[Author]

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