Centerboards Revisited

katorpus
Posts: 146
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: Centerboards Revisited

Post by katorpus »

I don't know what my centerboard is made of, but it is danged heavy (cast iron wrapped in fiberglass, maybe?...but I don't THINK so, since there's bound to be corrosion going on in there if that's the case, and the glass hasn't cracked)...if any of you happen to have your 40 hauled, try lowering the board to the ground (while you're in sling or cradle) and see if you can raise it again by grabbing it and lifting upwards. I doubt that you can.

Long ago and far away I recall reading that the board weighs 500 lbs...but I've also read that my RUDDER is supposed to weigh 1100 lbs, and (even back when it was full of water), I'm pretty sure THAT is not the case.

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markedwards
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Location: Dartmouth, MA
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Re: Centerboards Revisited

Post by markedwards »

The talk of centerboards takes me back a few years. One of my first jobs at Freedom back in 1978 was installing centerboards. I don't recall steel boards however. All the boards I dealt with were fiberglass with a lead weight to help sink them. The boards were foam filled other the lead at the trailing edge.

The shaft for the centerboard is fitted to a very close tolerance inside a fiberglass tube that was open to the stbd side of the hull. The board had a UHMW bearing and would be lifted into position, the shaft passed through the tube and through the centerboard and the shaft would exit inside the boat to the port side of the centerboard trunk. A cross pin was installed and a mound of chop fibers/resin was created to lock in the centerboard pin from rotating. This mound was then fiberglassed over. The hole on the outside of the hull was packed with "stuff" (highly technical boat building term here) and then fiberglassed over from the outside.

Mark Edwards

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THATBOATGUY
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Location: F40 CC CK Maryland
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Re: Centerboards Revisited

Post by THATBOATGUY »

Hi Mark,

I had the great pleasure of discussing the centerboard issue with your old buddy Bill down in Sopers Hole Tortola last week. He said he remembered several iron center boards being installed in the early days. He made it sound like these were maybe installed before he started there or maybe delt with on a warranted basis? Wish I had had more time to chat. Looks like hull number 6 got one and since it's got a December 77 hull id number this was perhaps just prior to your time there? I'm thinking about making a new one.

George
George and Kerri Huffman S/V Marquesa Freedom 40 CC CK Sail MarquesaImage

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