Tom:

I don't want to alarm you but there may be more serious problems that you would want to rule out.

If the centerboard has started rubbing against the sides of the centerboard slot, I think you need to determine exactly what the cause is. This is particularly the case if your boat is subject to winter freezing.

Water can make its way into the centerboard and/or the housing where, I discovered, there were many substantial voids. Water freezing will expand the sides. Just sanding down the surface will not fix the problem in this case.

Use something like a tack hammer to thoroughly tap the sides of the board and and housing listening for dead spots that indicate voids. Also, check carefully for signs of expansion such as fine cracks. You might use a straight edge on the housing sides to see if they are bowed.

Fixing the centerboard is not too difficult. if you find voids you can drill holes into the voids and inject epoxy into them using a large syringe. You need two holes for each void - one to inject the epoxy and the other to allow the air to escape. Fill the void until the epoxy comes up the air hole.

The sides of the centerboard can be sanded down but if you go through the gelcoat you need to fix the surface with epoxy.

If the problem is in the housing, the fix is considerably more difficult because there is no easy access.  In my case, I found that the bottom of the keel had a huge crack that completely encircled the centerboard slot. I think that damage was caused when a previous owner put a board under the keel when the boat was on the trailer. Big mistake!  I would check that out.

By drilling a lot of holes into the keel from the outside and down through the bottom of the boat, I was able to fill the voids, as best I could tell, with polyester resin. I used polyester resin because it is much cheaper than epoxy and, in this case, I was not looking for strength. It took 3 gallons of the stuff! That was a LOT of room for water,

Once the core was filled with resin, I was able to sand down the inner walls of the slot. I put a very coarse sanding disk on a pad that I then attached to a rod attached to a reciprocating saw to sand those surfaces. It worked but was not a job I would want to have to do again.

 Hopefully, this is not what has happened to your boat but I would want to rule it out.

The age of your boat might be an important factor to consider. The older boats were not built nearly as well as later boats. Mine is 1976 which places it squarely in the "old boat" category.

Lou Rosenbourg (I might have his last name spelled wrong) documented extensive repairs to the inside of his centerboard housing and all that information is in the archives.



Graham Stewart
Agile 76

On Wed, May 22, 2024 at 7:20 PM Tom Hyatt via Rhodes22-list <
rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> wrote:

> I am having an issue with my centerboard not dropping when I release the
> line. All of the blocks seemed to be operating correctly. So I pulled the
> cap and removed the centerboard (with major difficulty)
>
> It appears that the board is rubbing against the opening where the fattest
> part of the board fits into the centerboard slot. I think I want to sand
> down the centerboard in this area but I have no idea what its composition
> is and how much can be sanded safely (if at all).
>
> The other option is to sand inside the slot but that seems to present more
> issues with getting any sort of tool up there. Hand sanding that part would
> be an option.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Tom Hyatt
> Eliza Jane, 1978
> Middle River, MD
>