Stuck Centerboard/Am I having fun yet/when does fun start

[SkiDeep2001]

So I spent 4 days in Sequim,WA, over the weekend, missed the Pt Townsend Mac get together , won low putts and straight drive on Saturday in golf tourney , no luck on Sunday at Dungeness GC. Windy but fun. So, after needing to replace jib with genoa and all sheets, fix fuel leak and replace impeller on Nissan, fuse panel and wiring, plus a long list of other odds and ends, I put in water at John Wayne Marina and proceed to back away from dock, swing bow around, let go centerboard line and? nothing, no drop, braided steel line just lays there slack. The wind kicks up and BANG, my bow gets pushed into the bow of 40 foot S/V Hespian and her big a** anchor hanging over bow. No damage, I think and no owner to chew me out/give me the evil eye. I left my name and # on harbormasters message machine, black 3 inch scratch on my white strbd bow. Is it black under white gelcoat on 98 . Get out in Sequim Bay and proceed to fiddle with centerboard line. No Luck. Thanks to S/V Nikita and her skip who happened to be a Mac owner 8 years prior for assistance on VHF and offer of tow into moorage and sailing my way to look closeup, (Tow not needed) I got back in OK after waiting for wind to die down just before dusk and got back on trailer no problem. Why would my centerboard hang up and how do I rectify the situation . Trailer has cross member right under centerboard, (98 MAC single axle trailer) How high do I need to raise boat to be able to pull CB down on trailer because I am not going to be getting under there while in the water. I have had CB down a couple times prior and have not beached her, why would it hang up And is there an easy method for pulling CB down While on repair subject, while pulling out of RV park my right side trailer brake locked up, left was fine. Again it's the original 98 Mac single axle with surge brakes, cable on hitch actuator was loose and left side did not lock. I had only moved 20 feet at a crawl. (of course there was a motorhome pulling out behind me who I blocked in for an hour) Anybody have experience with this happening Otherwise I think I had some/a little bit/a minuscule amount of fun but I am waiting for the uneventful outing all the same. Any advice on (priority)stuck CB and brake lockup would be helpful although I plan on pulling drum (if I can get it off as it was hot and smelly coming back to Redmond) just want to know if it is common for one wheel lockup. Thanks Rob

[waternwaves]

using the jeapordy format...

on the center board......

What is bottom paint adhesion board to well......or ....... when is barnacle growth a problem

on the brake I will go with

What is a fussy rusty brake drum cylinder.

[SkiDeep2001]

Darren?, I did see blue beasties in my driveway a couple months ago. So that could be the problem huh. I figured PO might not have washed salt water off brakes so assumed that possibility. Thanks, now Alex says - for $600, The height you need to raise off trailer to drop CB

[Chinook]

I experienced the stuck centerboard problem a few years ago. I'd trailered about 800 miles north of the border, to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in northern BC. I launched at a remote ramp with a log raft for a dock. Absolutely no one around. I went to drop the board, and got the limp line treatment. Board wouldn't drop. We were headed for a portage about 35 miles uplake, and I figured I'd get a look at the problem when I pulled the boat out at the flat bed rail portage. I got there and we hauled the boat out on the trailer. The parks guy there helped me jack and block the boat up so we could access the board. Unfortunately, since it's near the center of the boat, we could only safely get the boat a few inches above the trailer surface where the tip of the board exits its trunk. I could see a hole which is molded through the forward corner of the board. We scrounged up a piece of rebar and ground it down on the grinding wheel the parks guy had in the shop building, until the tip of the rod would fit into the hole in the board. I grabbed an old chunk of moose antler which was laying around to use for a fulcrum. [Note: I've got the makings for several of these centerboard unsticking kits, if anyone's interested, and I definitely recommend going with the moose antler models.] It worked fine, and I managed to pry the board down an inch or two before it hit the top of the flatbed trailer, but it still wasn't swinging free. I decided to finish the job after putting the boat back in the water. We ran her through the woods on the rails, fully rigged, and launched into the next lake. I motored over to a fine sand beach, set a bow anchor and backed in toward the beach. I stern tied to shore, grabbed my face mask, ducked down with my custom centerboard unsticking kit, and managed to pop her free. It was a challenge holding my breath in that icy water. I was very careful on the rest of the trip to very carefully pull the board up, stopping once I felt it get near the top of the trunk. After the trip I took the boat into BWY for several maintenance items. I had Todd check out why the centerboard was sticking. It turned out that a small chunk of driftwood had found itself under the boat sometime when the board had been down and when I retracted it, it got stuck inside the trunk. Todd said it was really jammed up in there and he had to fabricate some kind of special tool to extract it. I never thought to ask him if he'd made his tool with rebar and moose antler, but I strongly suspect he probably used those materials, since they are definitely best for fixing stuck centerboards. Good luck, and let me know if you want me to send you a repair kit.

[SkiDeep2001]

Thanks Chinook,sounds like you had fun, and necessity is the mother of invention or some such. I'm not sure I have antlers around the 5 acres but I do have 30 years of collecting stuff, I'm sure I'll find something, maybe even some antlers. And I know what you mean about the cold water lakes in BC. Fished many years around 100 Mile House, Wells Gray Park area and even in late July early August in 90 + degree weather the water would make you shrivel up. . Hopefully my front loader Ford tractor hydraulics will get boat high enough above trailer to work CB free. If not I guess I'll be dropping in slough in Kenmore and try and 'git er dun' under water as last resort. I've spent enough $$$ on boat for now so don't want to have to take her in. Rob

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[waternwaves]

"what is 8 inches of lift?


I lifted my 96X 8 Inches off the trailer with jacks and blocking, and was able to remove the centerboard to bottom paint it.

[SkiDeep2001]

dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, DUN dundununundununt. Thanks

[Ureck]

How about drilling a hole in the top of the CB trunk which is above waterline and push the CB down with a stick. Cap it up later with a metal cover, 2 screws and some sealant. Happy sailing. Ureck

[Wind Chime]

Hey Rob,

Sorry to hear about the stuck swing keel.

Ours gets stuck on a regular basis too as our marina's entrance is covered in eel grass. The grass gets stuck up inside the keel- hole, and sometimes I have to crawl under the trailer to pull out the grass.

This may be different than what you have, but to resolve our stuck keel;

I make my own wake by driving in circles and bang the heck out of things by going over the wake, and sometimes it drops. Or if not, I go backwards over the wake and the force sometimes drives the keel down.

... of course that would mean putting the boat back in the water

[mtb_gary]

I had a similar problem on my with a stuck keel when I first bought it (second hand). I finished up taking the keel right out (whilst on the trailer. To do this remove the hanger nut from the inside then gently tap the stainless bold that you have revealed. Once clear of the centreboard cavity at the front the centrebaord can be pulled forward and down to completely remove the centreboard. Once it was out and away from the boat the barnacle growth was then removed from the cavity and the centreboard (a lot more thoroughly than when the keel is still in place), It took some time to complete the job but well worth the effort. I now use the high pressure hose to thoroughly clean the cavity and keel - never had a problem since.

[davidbagnall]

I have had a few times the stuck centerboard make my day's sailing interesting.
A very successful trick I have found is to let out about 2 inches of line on the centerboard line and then fire up the outboard and just got enough speed to just get the bow up (maybe 7 or 8 knots) and the turbulence created in the centerboard well generally dislodges whatever has got in the way.
Easy trick for us "power sailors"

[Kelly Hanson East]

To do this remove the hanger nut from the inside then gently tap the stainless bold that you have revealed.

If you do this, put the nut back on so that the bolt threads are below the level of the nut, then cover it with a piece of wood before you bash away. You dont want to gall those threads and make a mess of the job.