Keel Crane Well

 We are planning on sailing this boat in lakes where we need to get in and out of fairly shallow water.  Because of this, I've wanted to have an arrangement where I can easily retract the keel while still sailing.  I decided to build a keel crane but need a place to secure the crane while it's in use.  So borrowing a bit from a Melges 24, I decided to create a well just aft of the keel.  So i could have made the well out of almost any material including wood, but since I'm planning on constructing my own bow prod and sprit out of carbon fiber sleeves, this presented an opportunity to practice vacuum bagging a tube.   I bought carbon fiber sleeve material from Solar Composites and went at it.  I was extremely pleased with the result.  Three layers of heavy carbon fiber sleeves resulted in an extremely stiff tube. 

 Next up, I needed to construct a platform to hold the well-tube. I built a platform out of three pieces of 3/4" hydrotek (left over from previous laminations).  One was used as a base, the other as the top of the platform, and with the third I cut a hole slightly larger than the OD of the well tube.  The platform is supported by two pieces of 1/4" plywood, and the whole thing is reinforced with 12 oz. carbon fiber cloth.

The picture to the right shows the completed well.  The carbon fiber tube will be trimmed to the height of the deck after the cockpit floor is glued on.