J/70 Owner Guide
Page
© Copyright 2012, J Boats, Inc. All Rights Reserved
11
equipped with a removable handle and a ¾” lock nut for use with a portable drill and ¾” extended length
socket. The keel can be manually winched up or down in approx. 2-‐3 minutes and/or with a power drill
in approx. 20-‐30 seconds. Care should be taken at all times during keel lift operations that the system is
operating smoothly. It is advisable to always begin lifting or lowering operations with the manual handle
to insure the keel is moving freely. Also it is a good idea to use a lubricant on the head of the keel and
wedges (McLube or similar) to insure smooth operations. Inspection of the keel lifting line and cleaning
with fresh water should be performed on a regular basis to guard against wear or premature degradation
of the lifting line. Any indications of unusual wear should be addressed by replacing the line.
Storage
The keel crane system and line are designed for temporary launch and hauling operations and not
intended for extended storage under load. Owners should seek other methods of long term support of
the keel weight when the boat is on a boat lift, for instance, where the lifted keel may not be fully
supported or on a cradle or trailer not specifically designed for the J/70. Care should also be taken in
these instances regarding bracing the keel inside the keel trunk.
Bracing a Lifted Keel
Because the keel, when in lifted position, can float within the keel trunk, owners should take great care to
brace the keel trailing edge on each side with some soft material or carpeting inside the keel trunk prior
to trailering or storing the boat for extended periods of time. We have found that mildly strapping the
keel eye forward to the mast step eye on deck (when keel is in lifted position) can help brace the keel
forward while on the trailer and then this combined with a strap around the trailing edge of the keel bulb
to the trailer keel tie downs may be enough to keep the boat and keel braced together to the trailer.
Please refer to the Triad Trailer owner manual for more specific information and trailering
recommendations.
Rudder, Tiller and Steering Hardware
J/70 rudder is molded with E-‐glass & VE resin with an epoxy foam core. The skins include triaxial glass
fabric with several unidirectional supporting layers. There is additional reinforcement and/or blocking
at all hardware penetrations as well as along the leading and trailing edges and the rudder head. The
trailing edge is very narrow and as such is a damage prone area when handled poorly. Owners should
use great care when removing and installing the rudder to avoid trailing edge damage.
The tiller is a molded gelcoat and E-‐glass curved tiller with an extendable tiller extension from Ronstan.
This is attached to the top of the rudder with a single bolt and articulates vertically. Care should be taken
not to stress the tiller by placing unnecessary weight on top of the forward end while sailing as this could
lead to gelcoat cracks and other issues where it attaches to the rudder.
The rudder hardware includes two SS rudder straps bolted to the rudder, two SS transom mounted
gudgeons and two SS rudder pins. The rudder pins are provided attached together with a lanyard and
with retaining rings. Be sure to install the retaining rings below each gudgeon once the pins are installed.
Water draft with the rudder installed is 3’ so it is likely that the rudder will need to be installed after
ramp launching and or before hauling up a ramp, depending on the height of the trailer support bunks
Bow Sprit System & Components
J/70 bowsprit is a carbon tube with a special ferrule type end fitting at the outboard end for the
spinnaker tack line. The sprit is provided with a simple hole for dead-‐ending the pole control line at its
aft end and the sprit rides on two Delrin machined sprit bearings that are each bonded inside a fiberglass
tube mounted in the bow of the boat to starboard. The center of this fiberglass tube is cut away (forward
