Keel winch question

Posted By: Marc Jared
Date: 10/1/08 8:30p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: water on floor (cory considine cm 21 & cm 26)

I'm new to this forum, now that my son has acquired a 73 CM MK26 #205, "The Lauren Lee". The boat was given to him after inquiring about it. He saw it parked under pine trees while making a delivery. He works for Fed Ex. It was covered with pine needles, lichens and moss. It was last on water in 94. We replaced the trailer boards and tires and dragged it home. I took it to work and gave it a good power washing. I will post some before and after photos in another post. The hull seems to be in very good condition, although the interior will need alot of wood replacement. One thing I noticed when we were replacing the trailer boards was that the keel was not in it's trailer rest. It was in the raised position. I later tried to lower the keel but could not find a "latch release" per se. I had to get a piece of wire and manually pull on the latch to get the winch to back down. I was able to do this because the wood supporting the winch had rotted away. My question is, how is the winch latch released normally? I could not have figured how to release it had the winch not been exposed. All info greatly appreciated. Marc w