Stuck Centerboard

[Chinook]

I've been away from the forum for a while, and just noticed this thread. The centerboard on our X got stuck in the up position one time while we were up in Canada, on a remote lake. I was able to free it by mooring in shallow water near shore and getting under the boat with a face mask. A weight belt is nearly essential in being able to hold position under the boat and still have both hands free to work. I ended up using a small piece of moose antler, with a sharp tine. I poked the tine into the hole located at the bottom of the board, and was able to lever it free. After getting home, with the boat off the trailer at the BWY shop for maintenance work, we discovered the cause of the board getting stuck. A piece of driftwood had gotten jammed up inside the centerboard trunk, and if the board got pulled up too hard, it would get jammed in the up position. Getting that chunk of wood out of the trunk was very difficult.