Barry:

One owner on the list made his own centerboard. I think he made it out of stainless steel and put plastic caps on the ends as bushings. He must have his own metal lathe, but you can surely have a pin fabricated at a local machine shop, or make it yourself if you have the tools and tooling. He shared pictures with the list. Maybe you could find it in the archives. I know I have the pic saved on my computer at home. I'll repost it this evening if I get the time.

I may be in a similar situation very soon. My centerboard bounces around in the trunk quite a bit. I bought new running rigging and lines and plan to pull my trunk cap off in the next couple of weeks. I'm a bit apprehensive about what I might find.

As far as the running of the centerboard pennant line, it's all preference whether you want a 3-1, or 4-1 advantage to raise the board. I've had both. One ended at the cb and another ended at a pad eye on the underside of the trunk cap.

Can you post pics of your centerboard and trunk?

Wood was never a factory creation from everything I've even read or seen, but only Stan can give a definitive answer.

Todd T.

On Wed, Jun 7, 2023, 11:21 PM Graham Stewart <gstewart.gm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Barry:
>
> Pictures can be attached to the message just as with any email and would be
> a big help as I am not sure what the issue is.
>
> On my boat (1976) the pin around which the centerboard rotates is a
> stainless steel rod. I seem to recall that it was about 1/2" diameter but
> it might have been a bit larger. You should be able to buy a piece of rod
> or even use a ss bolt of sufficient diameter and cut it to length.
> The original board (don't know about the later diamond board design for the
> centerboard) extends about an inch below the keel when retracted but it can
> be pushed up into the keel. That said, the keel bottom should NOT be
> resting on the trailer. The hull rests on the side bunks only and the keel
> hangs clear. Resting the keel on the trailer can damage the keel and that
> is a difficult repair - I know as that is what happened to me.
>
>
> Graham Stewart
> Agile 76
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 9:22 PM BARRY RUEHLEN <ruehbl at msn.com> wrote:
>
> > A friend and I bought an 87 Rhodes about a year ago. I've been lurking on
> > the site and following emails ever sense. It needed what we thought was a
> > cabin makeover and a few other cosmetic repairs. Well a case of termites
> > and a hurricane later we have gutted the cabin down to stringer repair,
> and
> > now thanks to hurricane Ian, we have attacked top and bottom side gouges,
> > re-faired her and are well on the way through repaint (vivid red). I'll
> get
> > to interior rebuild later, but right now we have an issue with the center
> > board that snaped in half when she floated off the trailer and came to an
> > awkward grounding in the neighbor's yard. I found a used one from a guy
> in
> > Quincy Ma. Hope it fits. The problem is our pin is broken. I have the
> > stainless sleeve from our old board, and two pieces of the old pin. The
> > centerboard we just got has the stainless sleeve fixed in the board, but
> he
> > did not include the pin he said he had. Our trunk looks to be fine, but
> we
> > are in a bad way for a new pin so we can get the center board and trunk
> > back together. ( after bottom painting the trunk and board as she will
> > mostly be in a slip in my canal in Florida). Our broken pin seems to be
> > made of some kind of wood, which is hard to believe.
> > Todays question is where can I get one or how to make one? Question two
> > is, the diagrams I have seen show the pennant terminating at the hole in
> > the centerboard. Our boat has the line terminating to a pad eye screwed
> to
> > the trunk. Then it goes around the double block system on the
> centerboard,
> > and trunk cap, and on out. I guess there is more than one way to skin a
> > cat, but it seems like terminating at the centerboard would be stronger
> > then to a screwed in pad eye. Thoughts on that please. Lastly for now is
> > that our original centerboard hung proud of the keel bottom about an inch
> > as I remember. Maybe the pin was already broken in there. The problem is,
> > if the board normally protrudes below the keel, I'm going to have a hell
> of
> > a time as the keel now sits hard on the rollers of the trailer she is
> on. I
> > could send some pics of the board and broken pin, but I'm not sure how
> that
> > goes in this email system. I'll just go with the note for now.
> > Best,
> > Barry
> >
> >
> >
>