Tuesday 17 September 2024

Centreboard | Reinstallation

I left the repainted centreboard in the house for a couple of days to fully cure before reinstallation. Here it is, in company with the upper drop board.


I then considered how to carry out the reinstallation and immediately found I had a problem.

I had previously raised the stern of the boat onto a pair of sawhorses when levelling the keel for marking up the waterline, so it was no longer moveable on its wheeled dollies.

And where it was situated - right beneath the garage door frame - meant there was insufficient headroom to get the board back into its case.

So it had to go back onto the stern dolly so I could move it. Here I am using a pair of bottle jacks - one on each side - to raise the hull so I could withdraw the sawhorses. The dolly is already in place with blocks to take the weight of the hull when it is lowered.


In this pic the hull is partly lowered onto the dolly by removing some of the wooden blocks.


And here the hull is back on the dolly and moveable once more.


I moved the boat so I had headroom to insert the centreboard and connected the pendant. Here it is knotted inside the hole in the board.


Having tried and failed to cut rope with knives, I purchased a hot knife. It works brilliantly. Here it is.


It will be invaluable when I get to fitting out again.

Here is the centreboard, attached via the pendant and ready to be installed.


This is one job that you really can't do single handed, so Mrs Boatbuilder was drafted in to pass the board up to me perched on top of the hull.

And here it is reinstalled, with a temporary rod through the pivot hole and held up out of the case by a wooden dowel. This makes it easy to manoeuvre the board into position to accept the pivot rod.


Next I pushed the temporary rod through the keel and inserted the new pivot pin, tapping it into place.

The pin was then sealed permanently in place with thickened epoxy resin, retained in the hole by a pair of plastic cards and a clamp. like this.


That's it! Next job is painting the hull again.

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