centerboard access port

[gtquier]

I am almost afraid to broach this subject lest you think that the village idiot has bought a sailboat. As I study the elevation drawing of my 26X, it appears that the top of the centerboard is above the water line while at rest. I have often have problems getting my centerboard down. Would it be possible to bore a hole in the top of the centerboard trunk and solvent weld a 1" pvc threaded coupling in there. If the board gets stuck I can remove the plug and shove it down with a 5/8" dowel rod. Please don't laugh.

[Gazmn]

Making extra holes in the bottom of a boat is never a good idea - to me. I don't know if your boat is kept in the water or trailered. I'd consider the following options first before picking up a drill bit.

1. Make sure your CB cavity is free of debris & critter slough so that it can drop down freely.

2. Make sure your lowering mechanism is drops line freely. ie. doesn't get caught up on any excess fiberglass or Critter Shtuff. There's a mod on the board regarding cleaning out that opening if needed.

3. If 1 & 2 aren't issues I'd consider adding a little weight to the trailing end of the CB & allow gravity to heklp it drop down. 10 - 20 lbs should do without harming the CB mount. [personally, I'll be doing this over the winter.]

Just my .02.


Happy Mac'in

-Gaz

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

the nature of the OEM centerboard makes it so that it does not drop easily/quickly. that is, unless your Mac is completely still/without movement, you will typically have a delay in the drop. mind you, it will eventually drop as it was created to fill with water and use the water to drop the board. in doing so, it limits extra weight for trailering.
so, if you want a quicker drop, the solution is weight in the tip/bottom.
either lead, extra resin, or the "shot/resin" solution being discussed in another thread.
drilling a hole above the waterline in the centerboard cavity as a means to hasten CB drop has not been previously discussed. it could probably be done without any problems, but most would recommend otherwise.

Bob T.
"DaBob"
'02X w/ '04 90-TLDI & '06 2.5-Suzuki

[Frank C]

GT,

No peals of laughter at all. There's nothing wrong with your idea, and it's no more risky than the thru-hulls for sink drains or transom drain. They're all holes in the boat, all above the waterline. I'd guess you want to calculate the angle of the fitting so your push rod can follow the CB arc.

Bob is correct, though, that few would recommend it. My thought is that gravity should drop your CB "to the waterline," unless there's some problem preventing it, where it begins filling with water as Bobby mentioned. I'd suggest solving that problem first.

My board drops without assistance, but the only feedback is by watching the CB line pay out. IIRC, the factory provides about a foot of line-tail beyond the cleat. If the boat is still, my CB line pays out fully in less than 5 seconds. I usually release the board while filling the ballast tank, and verify the line-length before hoisting sail.

[Retcoastie]

gt,

I'm with the rest. I believe you have a problem with your centerboard that rectifing would solve this problem. Have you dropped the centerboard and looked at it? There may be a problem with the pivot hole/pin.

[R Rae]

Doesn't sound too bad an idea at all. Several things to think about, however. The 5/8 dowel might be on the small side to be able to reliably catch the trailing edge of the CB all the time. Why not think about using 3/8 threaded stainless instead, and secure a 'U' shaped fork that would easily engage the CB, but still be small enough to drop through a 1-1/4 PVC fitting. Would give a little more wiggle room.

Ron

[Night Sailor]

I'd say it could be done safely, but as suggested, maybe it's not worth it if other means can prevent such a problem as a stuck CB.

It's true that the top of the CB is out of the water when the boat is perfectly flat and there is another two inches of air space before the top of the CB trunk. When the boat is heeled to some degree, maybe 20 degrees however, it may be all water, so opening the port should be done only when it is flat.

Secondly, strength of the port application is a delicate issue. When the boat is at maximum speed up on plane there is a lot more water and air pressure in the trunk. It would be embarrassing to say the least if the port blew out at speed when a wave was jumped....

[R Rae]

More thoughts..................

Frank has a good point to bear in mind: The angle of entry would be important, depending where you decide to drill through. I would think somewhere underneath the rear dining bench. I even had an idea that if you could borrow a plumbers tap to create a threaded hole, you would then have a superior fit up using a threaded nipple. Then, you could determine the ideal length of nipple required to be above the trunk, to avoid spillage.

[Newell]

Another mod before drilling the hull is remove the CB and add a stud to the top. The stud would be fitted with a hole where you attach a line that travels up the uphaul channel. This line is now the downhaul. It works and I had it installed for several years but removed it since it was never used.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

Another mod before drilling the hull is remove the CB and add a stud to the top. The stud would be fitted with a hole where you attach a line that travels up the uphaul channel. This line is now the downhaul. It works and I had it installed for several years but removed it since it was never used.

i'm trying to visualize this one...but i can't.

[ALX357]

I think something has been left out -- maybe a lower bolt or shackle or block mounted low in the cb trunk for the line attached at the top of the cb to go around and then back up the compression post next to the lifting line. this could possibly be arranged to pull down on the cb to lower it against resistance (some) . ??

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I agree with some of the earlier posters....find out the root cause of the problem before creating workarounds. I've had times when the CB wouldn't go down well and it has almost always been attributed to sea growth (or rocks) in the trunk. Once in a blue moon, you could tell that the board shifted to the side a bit, but reversing the pressure on the board always fixes that. Which is another thing to keep in mind, when I rebuilt my bracket last year, the pin had some definite grooves in it so I replaced it. If yours has been off center from the start, then perhaps you have some grooves holding it to the side. Still a better deal to get a new pin (about 5 bucks if I remember correctly) than creating bandaids.

Perhaps it is too elementary, but I'll mention it anyway. There are only certain states when your board can go down (or up). Any lateral pressure on the board at all, and it won't move. I would consider this normal. You can get lateral pressure both from the sails AND from the currents, so it is quite possible to have problems moving the board when you don't even have any sails up...this would most likely be caused by some sort of cross current. Cross currents can also be caused just by the motion of the boat (think of a skid). This kind of stuff happens frequently by the way so you may have to turn your boat directly into the wind or current even when you have no sails up. By turning the boat slowly and keeping the tension up on the CB line, you will feel when that guy is ready to move.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

and so this is why so many on the board (no pun intended) have considered or opted for weighting the CB with lead.