Purchased this boat this spring, have it in water, but center board is stuck, how do I free it up, can I do it without taking out of water
25 ft oday, center board stuck
- Thread starter dennyg4
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Let the centerboard pendant line off and retie the line to the cleat leaving about 6" of slack in the line. It may free itself up with the constant movement at the mooring. If this doesn't work, put your swim mast on and go under the keel and try sliding a thin flat 1/8" thick metal object between the centerboard and keel slot. The slot is about 2' deep. If you're not up to swimming under the keel, perhaps you know someone who does SCUBA diving that can do this for you. There could be some marine growth or small stones that are binding up the board. Hopefully, the board isn't damaged and swelled up to a point that it's stuck in the slot. You'll see it when you get it down. I took my O'Day 222 off the trailer two years ago and put it on boat stands. I shored up the hull at both ends to expose my keel and I removed my centerboard and cleaned and painted it with ablative bottom paint. It's possible that the previous owner of your boat left the centerboard down and it developed marine growth. I've always left my board in the up position when my boat is either moored or anchored. It's kind of hard to speculate what could be causing it to hang up. You'll find out when you get it down I'm sure. Good luck!
Joe
Joe
There are two ways to do this without taking it out of the water. The most obvious is to dive under the boat. If the board isn't fully retracted into the keel, you might be able to grab it and shake it to see if you can free it. It could be stuck because the pendent shackle is caught, or a few barnacles are blocking it. If the board is swollen with water, then there is really nothing you can do about this with the boat in the water. You will have to pull the boat out of the water and let things drain and dry out (you may need to drill drainage holes in the edge of the board to let this happen, but that's another thread).
If you don't want to dive or if the board is fully retracted, you do have another option. Go to the hardware store and buy a three foot long, 1/4 inch steel rod. It might cost a couple of dollars. The pendent line comes into the cockpit via a hole in the bridge deck. Remove the plastic grommet that surrounds this hole. You will see that the opening for the pendent line is quite a lot bigger than you might have thought. Push the steel rod into this hole, past the pendent line, until you feel the rod hit the edge of the stuck centerboard. You can now try and free the board "from above". I recommend tapping the end of the rod with the least amount of pressure that is successful. You don't want to really whack at the rod; you are striking the relatively vulnerable edge of your centerboard, and you don't want to crack it. I have used this method about a half dozen times over the past ten years to free my centerboard (Oday 23). It has never failed, nor have I ever damaged my centerboard.
A couple of caveats: Be careful pushing the rod through the conduit. I have heard tell that the conduit in some boats is not a hard pipe (as it is in my Oday 23), but a flexible hose at some point in its length. You don't want to puncture that hose below the water line.
In order to spread the load and lessen the chance of damage to the centerboard and to the conduit, I make a "pad" for the end of the rod out of duct tape. You could use other things as well, but you are limited by the diameter of the conduit.
Full disclosure: I have never damaged the board, but last summer I might have broken the shackle that connects the board with the pendent. The board stuck, and I used the rod. I freed the board, but quickly realized that the pendent didn't control the board anymore. I dove under the boat and found the clevis pin from the shackle to be gone. I don't know if the pin failed and was the cause of the jam, or if I broke the pin when I went to free the board. Since I never impacted the pin or shackle before while freeing the board, I am inclined to think the pin/shackle failed and caused the jam itself.
Good luck.
If you don't want to dive or if the board is fully retracted, you do have another option. Go to the hardware store and buy a three foot long, 1/4 inch steel rod. It might cost a couple of dollars. The pendent line comes into the cockpit via a hole in the bridge deck. Remove the plastic grommet that surrounds this hole. You will see that the opening for the pendent line is quite a lot bigger than you might have thought. Push the steel rod into this hole, past the pendent line, until you feel the rod hit the edge of the stuck centerboard. You can now try and free the board "from above". I recommend tapping the end of the rod with the least amount of pressure that is successful. You don't want to really whack at the rod; you are striking the relatively vulnerable edge of your centerboard, and you don't want to crack it. I have used this method about a half dozen times over the past ten years to free my centerboard (Oday 23). It has never failed, nor have I ever damaged my centerboard.
A couple of caveats: Be careful pushing the rod through the conduit. I have heard tell that the conduit in some boats is not a hard pipe (as it is in my Oday 23), but a flexible hose at some point in its length. You don't want to puncture that hose below the water line.
In order to spread the load and lessen the chance of damage to the centerboard and to the conduit, I make a "pad" for the end of the rod out of duct tape. You could use other things as well, but you are limited by the diameter of the conduit.
Full disclosure: I have never damaged the board, but last summer I might have broken the shackle that connects the board with the pendent. The board stuck, and I used the rod. I freed the board, but quickly realized that the pendent didn't control the board anymore. I dove under the boat and found the clevis pin from the shackle to be gone. I don't know if the pin failed and was the cause of the jam, or if I broke the pin when I went to free the board. Since I never impacted the pin or shackle before while freeing the board, I am inclined to think the pin/shackle failed and caused the jam itself.
Good luck.
Warning about using rod
You may not have a strait line to the centerboard thru the pendant tube. If you have a bend (and the newer 25's did) then you could damage the tube. Think maybe sink.:naughty:
The swiming under may be the only alternative. I can tell you that it feels like swiming a mile under a boat.
Get someone with scuba gear. And tell them not to be under the board. If they got board loose and hit on head, it would be all over.
Ed K
26
You may not have a strait line to the centerboard thru the pendant tube. If you have a bend (and the newer 25's did) then you could damage the tube. Think maybe sink.:naughty:
The swiming under may be the only alternative. I can tell you that it feels like swiming a mile under a boat.
Get someone with scuba gear. And tell them not to be under the board. If they got board loose and hit on head, it would be all over.
Ed K
26
Mike,
The rod isn't a good idea. There is a sheave up inside the centerboard slot where the pendant line runs through before it connects to the centerboard. The sheave has a small plastic pulley. If that gets damaged it will need to be replaced probably by cutting around it's fiberglass enclosure located under the cabin sole where the pipe for the pendant line comes together. You can see the two bolts that hold the strap for this sheave on top of that hump. There is no possible other way to get at that sheave from inside the keel. Check out the pics and you'll see the sheave.
Joe
The rod isn't a good idea. There is a sheave up inside the centerboard slot where the pendant line runs through before it connects to the centerboard. The sheave has a small plastic pulley. If that gets damaged it will need to be replaced probably by cutting around it's fiberglass enclosure located under the cabin sole where the pipe for the pendant line comes together. You can see the two bolts that hold the strap for this sheave on top of that hump. There is no possible other way to get at that sheave from inside the keel. Check out the pics and you'll see the sheave.
Joe
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Joe, it actually can
Joe,
When the centerboard is out that sheave can be replaced. It is a tricky do, but it is a can do.
You have to remove the two nuts on the ubolt and the whole thing drops out.
Want the combo back in? Reassemble block to ubolt and tape to flat trim board long enough to put ubolt back into two holes. Reattach nuts inside bilge. Then on another flat board attach razor knife end and cut tape on other board holding sheave and ubolt. Remove both boards. Feed pendant line down tube and as it come into view use flat board to guide thru sheave. Use the two boards to clamp onto line feeding thru sheave and pull down. Tie off on centerboard hardware. Yes, it can be done and in less than a hour if you have everything ready. Just think if Orville and Wilbur could do, you can.
Ed K
Joe,
When the centerboard is out that sheave can be replaced. It is a tricky do, but it is a can do.
You have to remove the two nuts on the ubolt and the whole thing drops out.
Want the combo back in? Reassemble block to ubolt and tape to flat trim board long enough to put ubolt back into two holes. Reattach nuts inside bilge. Then on another flat board attach razor knife end and cut tape on other board holding sheave and ubolt. Remove both boards. Feed pendant line down tube and as it come into view use flat board to guide thru sheave. Use the two boards to clamp onto line feeding thru sheave and pull down. Tie off on centerboard hardware. Yes, it can be done and in less than a hour if you have everything ready. Just think if Orville and Wilbur could do, you can.
Ed K
You may be right about that Ed, but I sure in heck wouldn't want to do it. Trying to free that board from under the keel regardless of whether you do it in the water or on dry land is a heck of a lot more sensible than poking a rod down the pipe and taking a chance on breaking that sheave. If the plastic pulley on the sheave breaks, you wouldn't even know it, but it would be a matter of time when the pendant line wears through and parts leaving no way of getting the centerboard back up. I just can't see taking a chance and creating unecessary problems. Probably the best thing to do is have it raised out of the water with a lift and free up the board. Personally, I would have a few tools ready just in case as Mike pointed out, the centerboard is swelled and damaged. A cordless impact electric drill with a Phillips head for removing the four machine screws that hold the two stainless steel plates under the two wedges, a fillet knife for cutting the caulking that is holding the wedges, and a 1" metal blade putty knife to clean out the wedge rabbets. My late friend Chuck R. (Lucky Bum) had to do that to his O'Day 222, "Get Away" a few years ago. He removed the damaged centerboard while the boat was hoisted, and had "Get Away" dropped back in the water. He sailed it for the rest of the season without the centerboard until he repaired the board in the spring of the following season. The easiest way to free the board is to put some slack in the pendant line and take the boat out in a good chop and let her pound a little. It may free itself but you'll never know the condition of the board unless you can visually look it over good.
Joe
Joe
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- Jul 24, 2006
- 628
oh i would get a health teen next time your out anchored at a swimming beach. Offer him a few bucks to try and release it from underneath. They have lots of lung capacity and machoism to getr done. My centerboard did'nt have a sheave that i could see, mine is cable also and the end was puttied into a hole where the cable went into the board. what is the strips if stuff midway down the board? shim stock to prevent rattle?
- Jul 24, 2006
- 628
never mind the "shims comment" took another look nd see the wedges and straps to hold the board in. my bad
The pendant line configurations are different on some of the older O'Day 25's. Some have a combination cable/rope attachment on the centerboard. Removing the centerboard is easy provided that you can get the four S.S. phillips head machine bolts off. The two S.S. wood screws that go through these plates and into the wedges are easy to remove. I had to rebuild my wedges a little with epoxy filler, but that was easy. Rudy has wedges, plates and fiber pins in stock if you need them. After the plates and wedges are removed along with any traces of old caulking, the whole centerboard and fiber pivot pin drops down very easy. The hole in the side of your centerboard probably has caulking in it to keep the pendant line cable from sliding and wearing out the small hole on the trailing edge of the board where it enters and terminates inside that larger hole. When I removed my centerboard two years ago, I gave the keel slot and centerboard two coats of Super Ship Bottom Ablative bottom paint before I put everything back together. It's a good idea to check the fiber pin out to make sure that it's not worn.
Joe
Trinkka: thanks for the excellent photos of the sheave. I don't think the Oday 23 (at least the Mark II version that I have) has the same set up. The "entrance" to the centerboard trunk on the 23 is completely inaccessable; it is sealed over with epoxy (it is basically the bilge floor). Short of sending a fiber optic camera down the pendent cable tube, I don't think there is any way of seeing if there is a sheave in there. In reviewing design drawings of the boat and based on my own observations, it appears to me that the pendent line tube carries the pendent line straight down to the attachment point on the centerboard. I don't see any bends. I bow to your and Shoaldrafter's greater experience with the set up of the Oday 25 and other Oday's that don't have solid pipe straight line pendent runs. I agree that using the rod under those circumstances ain't a good idea. I believe I even put that caveat in my original response.
I can only relate my experience on my boat with using a rod to unstick the centerboard. As I mentioned above, I have had nothing but success. However, given what you have shown me here, I think I will stop mentioning it as a possible solution for anyone other than owners of Oday 23 MkII's.
I can only relate my experience on my boat with using a rod to unstick the centerboard. As I mentioned above, I have had nothing but success. However, given what you have shown me here, I think I will stop mentioning it as a possible solution for anyone other than owners of Oday 23 MkII's.
Some boats like your O'Day 23 and the Seaward 22s don't have that sheave in the keel slot, Mike. I never even knew mine had a sheave until one of our members mentioned that his O'Day 26 had one. Then after that I knew for sure when I pulled my centerboard out. It would have been nice if the O'Day people had made some kind of provision to allow us to open up a threaded cap and stick a dowel into the the hole to free up a centerboard, but I guess that they were too busy getting these boats out on the market. I think that my centerboard has been stuck about twice since I've own my boat and that was because I let the keel ground in the mud. Since I've applied bottom paint to my centerboard and inside keel slot, I don't have any problems. As long as I leave my centerboard up when the boat is on the mooring and never let my keel hit bottom, my board always works fine.
Joe
Joe
stuck center board
I had the opposite problem My centerboard was stuck but only partway up. I did manage to get it on a trailer . I have a 222. What i did is take a 3ft screw driver and work on each side of the centerboard to break up the barnacles that were on the centerboard. The board had not ben painted in the past by the PO and I was too lazy to do it last year. I paid for that. It will take awile to getit all out but it will work. Flish it out with water and then paint it.
After a while, it just freed itself up. I think that the keel had mud in the slot. The O'Day 25 that I sailed up from Cape Cod to our yacht club in Dighton Ma, had marine growth on the centerboard. I was never able to get it down. Finally, one of the guys with SCUBA gear used a thin flat object and worked it around the board in the keel, and it finally dropped down. The board is made of fiberglass and only weighs about 60 LBS, I think. The new boat owner purchased this boat free of charge, so he really couldn't complain.
Joe
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