New User -- CB Question

[DoorCoMel]

Hi guys,

This is my first post here although I have been reading the forum for about two years, which is how long I have had my DSII (1976, picked up on eBay.) Thanks for the wealth of info! ... and to Roger for his great book.

Finally careened the boat yesterday to look at the CB. Two questions and a comment.

1. I read comments about a loose pivot bolt being a source of leakage, but am wondering about how tight is too tight. Any wisdom on how tight the bolt should be? (I do have some water in the bilge after sailing but am not sure how much is pivot bolt and how much is the drain plug!)

2. I noticed a hole, about 3/16 diameter, which appeared to be drilled in the starboard side of the CB about midway fore/aft and eight inches from the tip. It appears to go about half way through the CB. Any ideas about what that might be and would it be a good idea to fill it with sealer?

And a comment: Maybe everyone but me already knows this, but I discovered that hauling the CB downhaul to the limit (that is, to where the uphaul cable is fully retracted) positions the CB not straight down but about 10 degrees forward of straight down. Is this an intentional design feature to allow one to adjust weather helm, or is it just a quirk of my boat?

Thanks much,

Mel in Door County, WI

[Roger]

That's a new one on me. Check to see if there is a notch in your board near the hull that allows the cb to move that much more forward. Years of wear and tear could have notched the leading edge of either the cb trunk and or the cb.

On another note, thanks for the kudos on the book. I will be away for a couple of weeks however, so anyone requesting ordering information on the book/CD during that time will unfortunately suffer a lack of reply until the last week of August.

[DoorCoMel]

Thanks, Roger. It all seemed to be in pretty good shape considering the age of the boat. I don't plan to careen it again soon, but will take a look, and perhaps some pictures, when I do.

[Mike Swift]

According to what I have in front of me from O'day 7/6/78'
"the CB is supposed to be a 3/16 hole drilled in the side to allow gas to escape. We have found that some people have been filling this hole....DON"T DO THAT! We strongly suggest that you drill another 3/16" hole in the bottom (leading) edge, which will allow water to enter the board to help decrease it's buoyancy and let water drain out to prevent possible freezing and splitting." JDH/1h- 7/6/78

Hope this helps on your hole question/Mike

[DoorCoMel]

Thanks, Mike.

I had never heard that before.

Now I can get a good night's sleep!!!


Mel

[Mike Swift]

Mel,
I had a lot of side slop on my cb so I went ahead and dropped it out and the Previous Owner or someone before him had used a piece of plastic pipe for a bushing! I turned a new one and when I put it in the board the hole was obviously not drilled straight. I put the bolt in and measured and it was off 5 degrees. I went ahead and milled out the hole and I just got some delrin in the mail so I can make another bushing and get the cb back in the boat. The screws for the uphaul tang were not stainless either and were about rusted out so it's off to the store in the morning for some screws. I'll see if I can remember how to post pics and if so I'll post the CB fix(s) from O'day and you can read it there. /m

[K.C. Walker]

My 1974 DS1 centerboard pivots past straight down, as well. I kind of suspected that it was a quality control issue (like the pivot location in either the board or the trunk was in the wrong place). I presently just take note not to put it down past 90°.

KC

[swiftsail]

Yes, that is a issue. Probably a bigger problem is when you put down the board past 90 the font edge of the board hits the front edge of the centerboard trunk and can damage the board. You can put a piece of hard rubber in the space in front of the board to stop both those problems but if you are a racer that plug must be X inches up from the bottom edge of the trunk. You can check the DS rules to find out what X is.

[DoorCoMel]

Mike:

Thanks for the heads up on the bushing. I'll check that the next time I have an opportunity. For now, I have marked the uphaul line with a reference point to line up where it comes throught the cuddy bulkhead.

But this is all pretty academic now. I still have the boat in my driveway waiting one more decent day to sail, and that will be about it until next spring.

Thanks to all for the discussion.

Mel

[talbot]

Just a note in response to the comment about drilling an extra hole in the centerboard. I bought a new board from D&R Marine a couple of years ago, and Rudi told me to ignore that "escape-hole" advice with my new board.

[DoorCoMel]

Thanks to all for the good info.

Tomorrow she goes into storage for the winter. Never did get that last sail in. The weather was quite uncooperative.

Oh, well.


Mel