Center board hung up

[hirover]

The center board on my boat is suddenly getting crotchety. Dropped and raised the board in the slip without a problem before we hauled the boat. After the boat was hauled, board would not come down to pressure wash it. Fiddling with it from underneath, it dropped a little in fits and starts and finally fell out of the well in one fell swoop. Raised the board to block the boat on the hard without a problem. When we lifted the boat to drop and paint the board, it wouldn't come down again without fiddling with it. Couldn't haul the board back up without physically lifting it as I hauled on the control line. Once again, it went up in fits and starts. Now back in the water, the board is stuck up. Haven't taken it out for a sail to see if motion will free it up. That will have to wait till I get back to the boat in a couple of months.

Any ideas. Assume the wire either jumped one of the sheaves and is lodged between the sheave and the housing or the wire is frayed and hanging up in the conduit. The wire that I could see when hauled looked to be in perfect condition. Noticed that the wire had an overide on the drum when the boat was hauled but that cleared itself as the board went down.

Has anyone had a problem with the cable jumping the sheaves? What's involved in getting at the board sheaves and has anyone replaced them or otherwise tried to work on them??
The c/b well is clear of critters and debris so problem has to be with the cable.

Aloha
Peter Ogilvie
Pa'akai O'o, Pearson 35 #108

[roscoe1]

Peter
I was having problems with my board so I pulled the boat with a little effort I got the board down Found a slew of critters was growing in the trunk USED A HIGH PRES SURF WASHER AND A METAL SCRAPER TO CLEAN IT OUT i FOUND A NUMBER OF FISHHOOKS ANTHE LOWER CABLE SO IT WAS REPLACED i DISCOVERED NO PROBLEM WITH THE SHEAVES i SUGGEST KEEPING THE TRUNK CLEAN
MINE WORKS GREAT AND i USE IT OFTEN
Roscoe

[hirover]

Unfortunately, it's not a dirty trunk. The trunk was pretty clean when it came out of the water and was thoroughly cleaned and anti-fouled before it went back in. Something besides the board is hanging it up, has to be something with the cable.

Aloha
Peter O.

[Harris]

Hey Peter

Well, seems like you have done your homework on the cable and centerboard.

Some thoughts....
1) You need to know the condition of the cable. So you have to tie a messenger line to the thingypit end of the cable and run it down and see if the cable has some "meat hooks" in it. The only way to know. If it doesn't then you have a block & tube problem somewhere in the run. Major job here, but it has been done by some.

2) You may have a block issue going bad in the cable tube. Major task here also.

Suggestion....
I always ask myself this question when I work on my boat, "If I do this what will I really screw up and how much will it cost to fix it right?" In this light I would be inclined to add some lubricant to the pipe and let it run down to the center board end. Might free up something.
Other options include sealing up the center board, Paying to have the cable replaced, reworking it all so that the cable will be replaced.

It all can be fixed with enough time and money..........

Harris

Harris

[hirover]

Miracle of miracles, the board works. Had run out of options when I had to leave for home. When I got back to the boat, tried the Center Board. Lo and behold it went down fine. Seemed to come up with a little more pull needed on the line though that could have been my imagination. Dropped the board and raised it a number of times without hang-up.

So alls well that ends well

[Ray Schmidt]

Glad it works.

I have onging problems (2).

1. Barnacles on the board and in the truck. I rarely use my board, so they have a good home.

2. When it is clean, my winch hangs up, I have to open the box and manually turn the winch, while holding the line. When it starts to turn by itself, if you are not holding the line, it spins fast (experience). FYI, my cable was brand new when this was happening.