Centerboard removal

[Bob Zoobricke]

OK, Saturday the weather broke here is NJ and was able to get into my X and see what was involved in the removal of the centerboard. The bolt coming up from the centerboard doesn't seen to have ANY ROOM TO GET A HAMMER IN BETWEEN THE TOP OF THE BOLT AND THE BOTTOM OF THE SEAT. I was thinking of drilling a 1 inch hole from the seat top and put a piece of 2x4 on top of the bolt and nut and tap it from the top down by inserting a piece of 1/2 pipe through the hole, then put a plastic plug in the hole when I'm done. It seems like a lot easier then trying to get in that small space. Has anyone found an easier way. Looks like a lot of 5200 sealer in my X.

[Moe]

Yes, there is an easier way someone here told me about. Tie a rope in a circle and hang it over each end of the centerboard pivot pin. That will leave two loops hanging down that a piece of 2X4 can go through. Put a block of wood on the hull ahead of the centerboard slot to protect the hull, put the forward end of the 2X4 on that block, and pull down on the aft end of the 2X4, leveraging the centerboard hanger right out. Was easy.

--
Moe

[Bob Zoobricke]

Thanks Moe, I think I'll give that a try first. Now if the temp can only get to 55 degrees.

[MAC26X]

Moe has a good idea if your CB hanger is stubborn. I did not want to drill a hole either. I cut/chiseled all the sealant around the nut and hole from inside the boat and backed the nut to flush with the top of the stud. I took an 18" long curved pry bar and placed it on the flush nut/stud. I firmly tapped on the pry bar for about 30 seconds and it came loose. A one man job that took less than an hour to R&R with a new line- no extra hole. Maybe I was lucky.

[craiglaforce]

I use a 4 lb "drilling hammer" it is a small compact hammer and only needs about an inch of swing to pop the bolt loose. also "antibond" helps to loosen the 5200 grip. Just spritz it on and wait a few minutes then a tap with the hammer and off it comes.

[Tom Root]

[quote="MAC26X"]Moe has a good idea if your CB hanger is stubborn. I did not want to drill a hole either. I cut/chiseled all the sealant around the nut and hole from inside the boat and backed the nut to flush with the top of the stud. I took an 18" long curved pry bar and placed it on the flush nut/stud. I firmly tapped on the pry bar for about 30 seconds and it came loose. A one man job that took less than an hour to R&R with a new line- no extra hole. Maybe I was lucky.[/quot]

Yes, Moe's idea does sound good!

I used your method, and it worked well to remove it. I did not have to chisel any sealant though, a few hard whacks worked well, and she was free fairly easily! Now it's time to put it back on as I have some upcoming activities scheduled for the Mac. In replacing the line I had an idea to make a 'Grommet' in the hole that is for attaching the line. I was thinking of using a piece of copper tubing and using a beveled rod and hammer, simply flare it out on either side of the C/B. This would prevent chaffing of the fiberglass. I then wanted to use a SS cable and loop it through the eye and get it swaged. Then run it maybe two feet, and transition it to regular rope for the upper end.

The reason I feel this would be better, is that I do not want that line to ever fail again and feel that this is the right solution to the problem. Something similar was done in the older X boats as I recall? The problem happened in the first place because of it getting chaffed betwen the hull and the center board. It may be because I leave my C/B down a tad so I have better control when recovering the boat to the trailor, and it gets caught between the two. It failed about 4" up from it's attachment point! Maybe the plastic coated SS cable would help also? This would allow it to roll between the C/B and hull in that event possibly?

Anyway, I gotta get 'er done, as I want to get on the water real soon!

[James V]

I don't recommend the metal cable. In a lot of boats it will decay faster than the non-metal. You might want to try to take the tension off the rope as much as possible, like when you have the boat at home or when in the water, just let the centerboard down.

Another thought is to not pull up the centerboard hard against the top. Leave a little play in it. This should be easier on the rope.

Does anybody have any thoughts on Kevlar rope?

[norbert]

having the cb down or even partly released while in the slip makes it bump around all the time. this not only produces annoying noise but also will wear out your cb and trunk and the pivot hole. my rule: down for sailing, partls down for motoring at moderate speed, up in the slip or at anchor.
james, why do you think the cb cable will decay faster than rope? mine is as new after 5 years in fresh water and 2 years in salt water.
kevlar rope is strong against strain but sensible against bending and quickly destroyed when rubbing against sharp edges. not a good choice for the cb rope.

[craiglaforce]

I think the SS cable is fine. Replaced mine after one strand broke. Lasted from 1997-2003 kept in salt water slip every season with the board always about a foot down in the slip. 6 or 7 years is pretty good and it was easy to make another one with the little oval swaging tool.
Corrosion was not a problem. The strand broke where it makes the sharp bend to go over the peg at the deck level. SHould have been a wire pulley there.

[dclark]

Funny this post came up...After 3 years in the water (salt), I pulled my X out to do all the maintenance junk. Sunday I was repainting the bottom and noticed the Cb hanger looked pretty corroded. Scraping it with my thumb, roughly 1/2 of the steel around the pin crumbled. What was left didn't look much better.

I called Tim Zanin who said it was a 20 minute job. Sounded too easy, but as it turned out is was more like 10-15 miuntes. It breaks down something like this...

1. Made sure the CB line cleated snug (1 minute).
2. From under the forward dinette seat, I cut away all the sealant around the nut using a utility knife (4 minutes).
3. Used a 9/16" (I think) wrench to back off the nut to within a couple turns off coming all the way off (1 minute).
4. Tapped on the bolt until it dropped (it moved slow most of the way and got to a point where it dropped - leaving the nut on kept it from going all the way through) (2 minutes).
5. Tossed a couple blanket on the ground under the board and removed the rest of the nut (2 minutes). Note: keeping the line cleated, kept the board from hitting the ground.
6. Released the CB line and lowered it onto the blankets (1 minute).

It was a lot easier then I had expected.

An FWIW, I'm having a new hanger made now. This one will be 1/4" 316 SS. Hopefully I'll get more the 4 years out of it.

[Moe]

A recent other thread: C/B control line snapped!

A picture of my centerboard out of the boat with recess in it for knot in centerboard rope. Do those boards that came with cables have this recess?

There was also a thread about an X owner who lost his centerboard, probably due to corrosion of the hanger and cable, but it evolved into a debate about "gybing" centerboards.
--
Moe

[James V]

Dear Norbert, One brand of swing keel boat (I don't rember the name) had the wire centerboard cable break often and it was replaced with rope. Maby the rollers was the wrong size or wire wrong size or just bad?

What size of cable did you use and did you do any other changes?

Are you in salt or fresh water?

[dclark]

It probably doesn't matter so much if you keep it on a trailer but in a slip keep in mind that there is a water line that plays an important roll. From looking my corroded CB hanger, I can see a big difference in what is left of the lower 6 or so inches compared to the rest of it.

From what I can tell, I'd say when the CB is all the way up, the CB line or cable is out of the water (a I wrong?). But lower t a few inches and it'll be wet. Leave it that way for months on end it I think you'll greatly reduce it's life expectancy.

As it looks to me, in a salt water slip the life expectancy of the stock CB hanger is about 4-5 years (not long). But stored on a trailer it will probably not be an issue.

[Bob Zoobricke]

Where can I get a new hanger? I My X is kept in the water 6 months a year and if what I'm hearing mine most likely needs to be replaced.

[Bob Zoobricke]

Where can I get a new hanger? I My X is kept in the water 6 months a year and if what I'm hearing mine most likely needs to be replaced.