J/70 Owner Guide
Page
© Copyright 2013, J Boats, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Caution should be taken to insure proper alignment of the tackle. (reference Appendix C: Oct 25, 2012
J/70 Technical Bulletin). Keel crane winch is 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 wire and cleaning with fresh water should be performed on a
regular basis to guard against wear or premature degradation of the lifting line. Again, any indications of
unusual wear should be addressed immediately by replacing the wire.
Storage
The keel crane system and wire 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 wedges and/or some soft material or carpeting inside the
keel trunk prior to trailering for long distances or storing the boat for extended periods of time. Every
new J/70 ships with wooden wedges in place, a clear soft PVC trailing edge protector and shipping straps
to hold the keel down against the trailer from the top.
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
of the forepeak bulkhead) and a bowsprit seal floats between the bearings to prevent water migration
