Center Board Cable on DSII

[radtek71]

Hi,
Just found this wonderful site. I have DSII in which the up haul cable has broken and the down haul cable is wrapped around the top of the CB. I will be replacing the cable. D&R has a replacement cable but is has a plate on the ends of the cable. MY cable looks like it goes inside the CB. First quesiton, can I change this with the new cable and drill the 3 holes needed to mount the cable to the CB and then maybe epoxy over that. ( i tend to over build) Second question, exactly how do I remove the CB so that I can acomplish this task. I can see the pivot bolt in the inspection ports. How do I get this out?
Kelly

[Roger]

Since your uphaul is already busted, it will make cb removal a bit easier. You have already found the pivot bolt through the inspection ports. Move the boat on your trailer so that the board will be free to drop and be removed without hitting any trailer crossarms. Otherwise careen your boat and tie down the mast so that you can work from the side. (See website pictures linked below) From under the hull prop up the cb using some boards that go across the trailer frame and 4 small triangular wedges that look like old fashioned door stoppers. Insert and slide one from each side under the cb atop your crossboards. Place one set at the front of th ecb and the other set near the back. As you slide the wedges towards the centre the board will lift slightly so that the pivot bolt is not binding in the hole. Lock the two opposing wedges with a C clamp so that they will not move.Release any load on the up and downhaul lines so that the weight of the board is taken up by the wedges below the hull. Use two socket wrenches to unscrew the bolt and nut from the inspection port access. The bolt will come out relatively easily, if the board is not binding on it. (That's what the wedges are for if they are pushed together enough to lift the board about a 1/16 of an inch). Remove the metal washers and rubber washers. Now remove the wedges and boards supporting them. If you have strategically moved your boat to a section of your trailer where there are no barriers below, your board will come out as you remove the supporting boards/wedges. It weighs 25 pounds so be ready for it. The uphaul (which on yours is busted) will come along, as will the downhaul. If it was still attached, you would unscrew the plate from the board at this time. From inside the cuddy, take apart any knots or thimbles that would prevent the downhaul form coming out. Tie a messenger line to each and pull them out from underneath. Disconnect and duct tape the messenger lines top and bottom, as this will ease the rethreading process later. There is a schematic of the cb lines setup on this site. The site has three pages.

http://groups.msn.com/RogerConrad/shoebox.msnw?Page=1

If you need better pictures of the wedges, e-mail me at roger02 at sympatico dot ca. (remove spaces and replace at with @ and dot with . There is also a link to my e-mail on my website.

[twista]

I just did this repair to my 71 DS ll. It took two people...I took the boat off the trailer onto my grass next to a tree. Then (two people) pushed the boat onto its side(secured it around the tree). Use bolt cutters to cut theother cable. Removed the c/b pivot bolt and the c/b will slide out w/o problem. Hopefully you c/b in good shape (no splits etc...). My c/b cables were also sunken into the c/b. I cut them close to the board and easily mounted the new kit tangs over the holes...drill small pilot holes in the board before using the screws in the repair kit... No need to epoxy or fiberglass over it...I was surprised how easy the repair went...Good luck...

[mark mirkov]

i too have the cable repair kit from rudy. do the tangs bolt to the side of the cb or screw along the edge? it doesn't look like there's room to through-bolt the tangs to the side. there's a post on this site showing a sketch of the cb with the tangs positioned on the edge of the cb. is this correct? my cb has 2 wire cables entering the cb through holes in its edge, so I figure this is one of the old set-ups, not involving a rope epoxied to the cb, as I have read about on this site. Anybody?...side-mount or edge mount tangs? Also, the amount of "twist" in the tang ends is not the same for both of them, and the cable lengths are not the same. I take it the shorter one is for the uphaul, right?

[Roger]

You are correct, the short one is the uphaul. As well you are correct in placing the tang on the edge not side of the cb.

My downhaul was epoxied in however. It could be reached from under the boat with the cb in the up position. It was about 3/4 inch up from the bottom of the hull but definately accessible from beneath the boat and trailer.

I have pictures and a discription of the cb removal if you want. E-mail me at roger02 att mts dott net and mention the specific request.

[mark mirkov]

hiya, roger! thanks for the info on cb repair. by the way, i did receive your book and cd and they are worth their weight in gold!! a few comments about my cb set-up:
the old downhaul is a 3/32" stainless cable anchored in a pocket of the cb with a swedge and epoxy plug, passing through a drilling in the edge of the cb, then aft through an opening in the trunk and a shielded pulley mounted there, then fastened to blocks on the trunk which hold a short length of rope to pull on. I too have the cb repair kit from Rudy, which is made up of 1/8" cable. But this thicker cable binds in the pulley on the trunk, despite my clearancing the shielding on the pulley.

So I have three choices, as I see it:
1) replace the new 1/8" cable with some new 3/32" cable and install the new tangs and cables in the original routing.
2) do the revised downhaul rigging which is used in the later d.s.II's, in which case I guess I won't need the downhaul cable since the revised set-up uses rope instead.
3) use the new 1/8" cable and tang to pass through a newly drilled hole (and pipe-nipple guide) in the trunk forward, and tie off to new blocks, shock cord, and rope in the cuddy.

in short, i am wondering how to proceed with the downhaul revision using the tang and cable from rudy, since all the info i can find says to use rope, not cable. Also, could you comment on the pipe nipple set-up for the downhaul, in this case? It should work the same way as you describe its use for the uphaul, don't you think?

[Roger]

the easiest way to proceed would be to get a small brass nipple (a gas line nipple would work) to allow passage of your new 1/8" cable. Use a similar sized steel nipple to thread an enlarged hole. Using a hack saw cut from the end of the steel pipe across the threads to create 'cutting threads'. You will only need to do this for a half inch or so into the pipe. Drill out the original hole in the fg cb trunk and rethread your hole to accept the brass nipple. Measure to determine how deep the nipple had to be inserted to be flush on the inside of the cb trunk, mark the nipple and insert it. You may have to cut a slot in the top of the nipple to insert a screwdriver, or alternately just apply some vice grips to the top of the threads and screw it in to the marked depth. Don't worry about buggering up the threads, as in this and the next step you are either burying them in the fg as you screw it in, or cutting it off flush with the top of the cb. Polish the top with finer sandpaper and remove any tooling marks. Pass your cable through and Voila! easiest fix.

If you choose either of your other options, you are in for more work and still using old cable, so for these reasons, I would go with option 3 in agreement with you.

Thanks for the comments on the book. I am happy to see that the information is being well used. I have many more books and CD's available as the offseason is upon us and we are busy contemplating or effectiing repairs and resoration on our boats. People can check the sticky at the top of the DS II page for details on the book and CD.

[talbot]

Before doing too much work, you might see if you can simply buy a larger diameter shielded pulley online. It sounds like we have the same model of DS II. I replaced my CB a few months ago with the kit from Rudy, and it slipped right in. So the part probably exists somewhere.

One trick for finding boat and trailer parts is to go to a general nautical supply site like West Marine, find the part closest to what you want, then look up the manufacturer's web site. The manufacturer usually has more options.

You might ask Rudy if he has any suggestions.