Chrysler Sailors Forum

I'm a new owner of an old Mutineer, but took delivery on it just a week ago and the season is nearly over. I have a couple of questions for the rest of you "Mutt" owners. My cabin hatch was cracked and I can see that the Keel(centerboard?) is in the way of slipping the hatch into place while on the trailer. After many attempts and much swearing, I figured out that if i lifted the boat off the trailer(I had to then wedge a 2X6 over the bunk) the exposed front of the keel would drop back on it's pivot bolt. Surely it shouldn't be this way EVERY TIME the boat goes on the trailer? What do the rest of you guys do?
The second topic is the keel trunk. This boat hadn't been sailed in some time, I think, but when I really tilted the boat back to take a look at the bottom(bought it on EBAY and hadnt seen it up close yet) there was quite a bit of water streaming out of the seam 1/2 way up the trunk. I tried to pop the little drain plugs out of the back of the trunk but they wouldn't budge. Should I have just pried them out and hope they didnt break off instead? They and the single one for the bilge at the stern are much like the one I had in my old O'day 17. Should I make sure the trunk is fully empty before winter(though the boat has been in Wisconson for a long time)? Any advice would be appreciated..

Welcome aboard! Try dowloading the manual from a preveous post titled new scans, perhapse it will shed some light on the parts and how they should work. Good luck.

Thanks, Mariner. Wasn't able to make either of my main computers download the manual in that format, though...

I have them all unzipped, put haven't posted the high res versions yet due to space requirements. You can find the low res one on EE's website here

If you think the high res version would help, I'll be glad to email it to you.

EDIT - disregard my ignorance below - just was looking at a pic of the centerboard at
http://www.mutineer15.org/docs/Centerboard%20gasket.pdf
and its obvious it retracts flush with the hull instead of hanging down a bit.




PS you said -

"figured out that if i lifted the boat off the trailer(I had to then wedge a 2X6 over the bunk) the exposed front of the keel would drop back on it's pivot bolt. Surely it shouldn't be this way EVERY TIME the boat goes on the trailer?"

Sounds like the trailer isn't set up right for the boat and the centerboard is taking the weight instead of the hull on either side of the centerboard ?

Thanks, E.E. I had a feeling that it might be something like that and the keel roller would be forcing the shape of the bottom upwards where it wasn't supposed to go. I guess I'll have to see what adjustments I need to do on the trailer bunks to raise it up a bit. The hatch came cracked and I can see how it happend now if the bunks gradually lost their shape and forced the front of the keel onto the hatch-even if the boat was just standing there.
I like the idea of a keel gasket to keep splashes down - my old Oday didn't have one and I used to amuse myself by asking my son to peek into the drop hole for the rope(non-weighted centerboard) and then wait for water to splash him in the face .

In looking at the pics on the link, it could still be that the CB mignt be capable of hanging down a small amount. the pics shown have the boat on it's side. However, when racing(I don't usually race - did enough of it on the track and on the street) I would imagine that the hatch would be in place; and CB capable of still lifting all the way in on a downwind leg, so there may be something else at work here...