daggerboard: ballasted or not?

[Helene M]

Hi,

I did extensive repairs this springto the daggerboard on our new-used 26M .
I read the specs and I do not remember is the daggerboard is ballasted or not, i.e. did I plug the water hole(s) while redoing the fiberglass?

Helene

[c130king]

I believe I have seen that discussed before and that there are holes to allow the DB to fill with water...helps hold it down.

Jim

[Highlander]

Yep it has holes in it top & bottom so as to fill with water or it will just float !

J

[bubba]

The other thing you can do is to install a 4 to 1 to pull up the dagger board and fill the dagger board with about 50 pounds of lead shot since you have the bottom hole plugged already. The the dagger board will probably float some with the holes pluged unless you add extra weight or drill out the old holes it will not work correctly.

[Phil M]

I did a major repair on my daggerboard this spring as well, but made sure to keep the holes so the daggerboard could fill up with water as it sinks down. The daggerboard works just fine now. I added one pulley to give me a 2:1 purchase when raising the daggerboard, which sure helps too. With the number of hours it took me to repair it, it sure is an incentive to be extra careful around rocky outcrops.

Phil M

[Wetsocks]

Just a quick Q from a newbie just discovering sailing... in the event of a 's daggerboard striking a rock head-on and hard, will there be damage to the hull as well as the daggerboard? Is the daggerboard designed to break off and preserve the hull, or will it break and cause some hull too? (I know that in real life conditions, anything can happen.)

Thanks in advance.

[bubba]

The dagger board will break and just hang there with fiberglass fibers holding it on so it is almost impossiable to pull it up again untill you dive down and cut it off. The Mac26M's bottom is very solid with 300 pounds of fixed ballast around the daggerboard hole, it would take a lot of force from the daggerboard to damage the hull. I think a replacement daggerboard is less than $100.00 not including shiping.

[bscott]

Can't you tie a line to the broken board and let it drop thru the trunk and retrieve it with a boat hook

Bob

[Wetsocks]

thanks bubba. Nice to know, let's hope it never happens.

[Kelly Hanson East]

Helene - you can just redrill the holes if you covered them up. If you cant see them, someone can send/post a pic of the board to help out Im sure. Welcome aboard!!

[carlos mur pera]

Bubba, I need more information about lead shots inside daggerboard, could you help me?.

Thank you

Carlos

[Russ]

Can't you tie a line to the broken board and let it drop thru the trunk and retrieve it with a boat hook

Bob

That would probably work.
Or, take a second line and drag it under the boat from bow to stern until it catches the daggerboard line to retrieve it and pull it up.


--Russ