Centerboards Revisited

Well here we go again. I’ve been in contact with the owner of Sting (Freedom 40 CC CK Hull #6). Since we are hull number 7 I was hoping for some enlightenment concerning our iron centerboard with electric winch setup. Apparently it still looks like we might be the only Freedom to have one and this is really baffling to me. It also makes me think that perhaps we will be building a new centerboard before we do any ocean crossings.

George

Maybe one of Marquesa’s prior owners lost their centreboard and had a new one fabricated?

Mine’s on a 3" axle that’s glassed into the keel.

Is the pin location below in the underwater portion of the keel or up inside the boat?

George

I doubt anyone would have a cast iron centerboard made to replace a fiberglass one (but of course I can’t rule it out). It’s possible that the original owner wanted more weight there for performance or Hoyt and the gang were experimenting. I did ask Eric Sponberg about it but apparently it was before his time with the company. It’s also possible that the “all fiberglass” one that’s on hull number 6 is really cast iron sheathed in fiberglass (as was ours) but taken better care of.

George

The 3" axle is in the fattest part of the keel up near where it meets the turn of the hull.

I “found” mine after removing the gelcoat layer in the course of my blister repair job. If yours has been repaired in the past, it’s possible that the gelcoat (under the bottom paint) was redone after the repair.

If the boat’s out of the water, you can “see” the axle by looking up into the centerboard slot in the keel…a yardstick stuck up there will let you figure out where it is in relation to the hull/keel

Thanks,

I think I actually did all that when we were hauled out but I couldn’t remember the results. I should go search the yahoo group and see what I said! heh heh

George

yeah, well, cleaning the barnacles and oysters out of that slot, then getting bottom paint up there on the interior of the slot and the non-reachable upper parts of the centerboard will permanently impress upon your memory just exactly WHERE everything is in that dark hole.

Sticking the pressure washer wand up there is a lotta fun too…crabs bailing out (I’m surprised I didn’t have a crab claw hanging from my OWN nose), algae, slime, and previously-undisturbed rotting flora jetting back out at the “operator” (me).

Daubing the bottom paint up there with a chip brush wired onto a stick isn’t a lotta fun either.

Egads… it’s all flooding back! Stop! Or I might never haul again. heh heh

Marqueasa had barnacles on her barnacles all on a thick base of barnacles. We found receipts for a partial refit from 10 years prior and we believe that was the last haul out before we purchased her.

This was what the entire bottom looked like in the good spots.

Those orange things are rust blooms.

This is a colony of some kind of muscles up in the slot. Even in death they were defiant… oh the smell.

But the end results were worth all the hard work.

The yards estimate to do the work $3,500 plus.

An X-Box 360 $299

A son who wants an X-Box and is willing to work to earn it… Priceless!

George

George,
I really think you should consider having a new centerboard built. On Bright Star, we had an old captive halyard winch that handled the centerboard, and one person could raise it without any problem at all. I don’t think that dropping your iron board gives you any advantage from a ballast perspective, but I could be wrong. Mostly, I think it’s a problem waiting to occur. It’d be a bit pricey to do, I suspect, but the wear and tear you put on the boat and yourself lifting that big slab of iron is impressive.

Points taken Lance,

… but…

There is really no wear and tear on me or the boat raising and lowering the centerboard as it’s being done by an electric motor. I will have to replace the microswitch cut out that stops the board in the up position. If it comes to a new board (and it might) I’ll build it myself of course. Not the first time I’ve done this as I built both the centerboard and rudder for my Nimble 30.

The advantage in shifting the weight is simple mechanics. The moment arm increases as the weight goes deeper and becomes more effective. It also acts to slow roll causing the boat to be more sea kindly both underway and in an anchorage deep enough to accommodate the board being down.

George

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.

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

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