Posted by geraldfreshwater (freshwater@…>)
A North wind against the North-going current in the Norwegian Trench earlier
this
month made me notice a lot of banging from the centreboard casing of my F35
(=F33
in US). I wanted to believe that this was just water slopping about in the
casing, but it
might well have been the centreboard itself flopping around. Since it is
supposed to
contain 500kg (half a ton) of lead, this did not make me feel comfortable!
However,
the board didn’t fall out or crack the hull open, so now I need to ask; is this
usual and
is it OK?
How do I go about checking the pivot for the board, and can it be done without
taking the boat out of the water? There are some covers at the forward end of
the
casing, but I am a little loath to unfasten them in case the sea pours in. Can
the board
be removed without lifting it out through the top of the casing? There doesn’t
seem
to enough room for this without removing the deck and coach roof, anyway. If the
boat is lifted high enough, can it be dropped out of the bottom of the slot by
removing the pivot? Comment and advice will be warmly received.
Regards,
Gerald Freshwater
Posted by Michel Capel (mike_c_f35ck@…>)
Hi Gerald,
The movement and sound is not OK. The pivot bolt is 10 cm diameter
stainless and can only be reached by removing the skin on both sides
of the keel. In the casing there is on both sides a nylon disk that
guides the board. These disks are known to disappear. This probably
(hopefully) is your problem. I think it’s related to barnacle growth
on the part of the board that never sees the sun; the barnacles
scrape off the nylon disk when the glue gets old.
I think you need to lift the boat and open the casing top to get to
it and replace the nylon disk. Inspection can be done from below;
the disks are below the waterlevel, so you can’t see them from the
top of the casing. Removing the top of the casing is not a big deal;
I did it several times. I used neoprene to get it watertight again
without having to glue it in place with marine sealant. You don’t
want to scrape off sealant every time you open the trunk. When
you’re at it, check and grease the tufnol blocks and make a new
pennant of a thin dyneema (Gleistein Dyna-one) line. I also added an
extra double block to get more purchase.
The board cannot be removed without removing the pivot pin, but I
would be surprised if this were necessary.
Hope this helps, and do not worry too much…the Freedom CB
construction is excellent.
Good luck,
Michel
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “geraldfreshwater”
<freshwater@z…> wrote:
A North wind against the North-going current in the Norwegian
Trench earlier this
month made me notice a lot of banging from the centreboard casing
of my F35 (=F33
in US). I wanted to believe that this was just water slopping
about in the casing, but it
might well have been the centreboard itself flopping around. Since
it is supposed to
contain 500kg (half a ton) of lead, this did not make me feel
comfortable! However,
the board didn’t fall out or crack the hull open, so now I need to
ask; is this usual and
is it OK?
How do I go about checking the pivot for the board, and can it be
done without
taking the boat out of the water? There are some covers at the
forward end of the
casing, but I am a little loath to unfasten them in case the sea
pours in. Can the board
be removed without lifting it out through the top of the casing?
There doesn’t seem
to enough room for this without removing the deck and coach roof,
anyway. If the
boat is lifted high enough, can it be dropped out of the bottom of
the slot by
removing the pivot? Comment and advice will be warmly received.
Regards,
Gerald Freshwater