When we first launched "3 Monkeys" I noticed the line in the cockpit which raises and lowers the swing keel was quite worn. What worried me most was the fact it was rope spliced to stainless steel cable. The splice point was extremely worn and looked like it would eventually break. If that occured I'm sure it would be a horrible job trying to feed a new line through the sealed conduit which runs from the cockpit down to the keel.

Everyone suggested that I talk to Rudy at D.R Marine. He seems to be the only one who can supply parts specifically for the O'Day. I gave Rudy a call and he gave me a part to order. The replacement part was not a steel to rope splice but entirely rope with a shackle that clipped to the keel. He also stated that there was a 50/50 chance it would simply clip into place with no modifications necessary.

One afternoon when I was down at the dock, my plan was to lower a video camera down under the boat and try to see exactly what the keel and attachments looked like. The fellow who docks next to me came by and inquired about all the strange equipment I had layed out on the dock. He then informed me he was a diver and it would be no problem for him to grab his tanks and go under to take a look for me. Well... maybe my luck is changing. This would be great if he could help me get this cable changed. After 5 minutes under the boat, he returned to the surface to inform me the steel cable was molded right into the keel. This ment the cable would have to be cut off and a hole drilled into the keel for the new shackle to clip to. The only way to accomplish this would be to have the boat hauled out.

About a week later I took a day off and headed down to Northern Harbour. This was normally a 2 hour motor but with the winds at my back I arrived a half hour earlier than expected. They lifted the boat out and held it about 4 feet above ground. I drilled an oversized hole about a inch above the molded cable and filled it with epoxy. Using a Dremel Tool, I cut the old cable from it's molding. Next came the needle and sailing thread which I used to sew a feeder line to the old cable in the cockpit. I pulled the steel cable out from the bottom of the boat until the feeder line came through. Removing the feeder line from the old cable I again used the needle and sailing thread and used it to sew the feeder line to the end of the new keel rope. Going back to the cockpit I gave a feeder line a good pull and the new rope eventually popped out into the cockpit. By now the epoxy was dry and I drilled a proper sized hole for the shackle pin to fit through.

Because I was well prepared for this job, the entire process took about 15 minutes. Our "3 Monkeys" was then lowered back into the water for the 2 hour trip home.