The Dreaded Centerboard Trunk Crack

[SeaBiscuit]

Hi folks. The old girl, a 79 DSII in resplendent Disco Orange, is leaking from the front of the centerboard trunk, and sure enough, she's got cracking that I can see in the area just in front of the centerboard tunnel when I get underneath. I was thinking of installing a deck plate just inside the cuddy, along the centerline of the hull to get access to the area for the profanity laced repairs to come. Has anyone done this, and if so, do you think that a deck plate would snag the o-so-reliable centerboard cable? I see that Roger recommends installing a deck plate off center -- but it's my wife's boat. She digs symmetry. Maybe I'll put a pair of 4 inchers instead, where Rogers suggests, but I'd appreciate any input from the fleet. Thanks, Steve.

[K.C. Walker]

Okay, I'll take a whack at this one. I have a DS1 so take that into account. I don't really know how difficult it is to work between the hulls but I suspect it's no fun. Therefore, I would approach most of this repair from the bottom. Obviously, you would want to put a fillet with fiberglass on the inside where the trunk meets the hull, but you could do most of the repair by grinding out and patching the cracked area from the outside. This is quite straightforward and you don't have to worry about the cosmetics, because you're the only one that's going to see it.

I found the West Systems repair manuals to be very valuable aid in repairing my boat which I did an extensive amount of last year. http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/How ... enance.pdf

Yard launching our boats and careening them on their side is pretty easy and makes the repair from the bottom much less painful.

Good luck!

KC

[SeaBiscuit]

Thanks for the reply, KC. Still figuring the repair out -- it's too hot to work on a boat right now here. I'll probably reinforce from the inside through an access hole that I'll cut through the cuddy deck and then have at it from underneath.

[Roger]

if you just fill it from the inside like you plan, it will eventually crack again. This is a design flaw. You need to use either a brass or ABS 3/4" threaded nipple inserted into an expanded hole (lower uphaul hole) threaded to accept the nipple.

The repair is detailed in my book, but is also available in the DS archives. Look for the keywords centerboard fix. The article may still be online. If not drop me a line at roger.conrad att mts.net without the spaces.

[SeaBiscuit]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I wasn't clear enough about the location of the crack. It's actually located in the bottom of the hull, at the forward opening of the centerboard trunk, where the exterior of the centerboard trunk joins the hull. I figure that to fix it, I'll have to open up a hole or two in the cuddy to gain access to the forward surfaces of the centerboard trunk inside the hull, reinforce that with cloth and resin, and then clean things up underneath, where the gelcoat chipped off, with more resin. If I'm smart about it, I'll put the new access holes close enough to the mast attach to be able to inspect and repair that, too.

You book has been very helpful, but I don't think this particular repair is covered.