H26/H260 & H23.5 Centerboard line replacement

Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
So some of this was already posted on another thread but not compiled.

Yesterday, @Crazy Dave Condon, @Kermit and I met up at Pelican Point Yacht club and we lifted out boats and changed out the lift line for our centerboards. I wanted to post a few pics of the process.

First you have to get the boat on a lift....
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and drop the centerboard....

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Next you sew your new line to the existing line ... you will use the existing line as a feeder. The new line needs to be 7/16th (11mm)!

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Now you need to drop the centerboard bracket. The bracket bolt is accessed through a small space under the salon table. I believe the socket needed is 1.25'.

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Make sure someone is holding the keel while you unscrew this bolt!!!!!!!!!

Then with a lot of grunting ... wiggle the centerboard bracket loose from the trunk and lay the centerboard down on the ground. Cut the old line at the centerboard and knock out the knot using a hammer and a flat-head screwdriver.
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Install the new line and put the bracket, pins and roller back the way you first found them. A great trick Dave showed us is to hold the pins in place with duct tape while you get everything back in place.
Maybe snap a pic of how it was before you undo anything just in case you forget how something is supposed to go.
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Then you put everything back the way you found it.....

Easy peasy lemon squeezey

okay... honestly.... if Dave had not been there, I would not have had a clue... but he made it look easy.

Hope this helps someone.

r
 
Feb 18, 2011
315
Hunter 260 Cave Run Lake, KY
Thanks for posting- great photos, and nice to see SML where I learned to sail. What was the condition of the old lines, and was this the first time replaced? I still need to do my '98 240, been procrastinating...
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
@caverun The old line actually parted as we were snaking the new line through. I think I was within a day of a failure.

I've been sailing SML regularly for 15 years and yesterday I saw something new.... it was drizzling very hard... a strange rain. Normally you don't think of drizzle as heavy rain but it started dropping a lot of water but the water was very small drops..... AND COLD! I was just a little past Bernard's Landing heading towards the mountains when a puff of warm air hit me and a fog bank formed about a tenth of a mile in front of me. Never seen fog on the water at SML before. It didn't get so thick that I couldn't find my way but it sure was weird.
 
Feb 18, 2011
315
Hunter 260 Cave Run Lake, KY
Thanks for the offer Dave- my boat is in the water for the season, so will do it next fall. Found a lift about 1.5 hours away near Lake Cumberland- don't think I can haul it to VA. Will let you know before I try.
 
Jun 8, 2004
10,024
-na -NA Anywhere USA
@caverun
If you do it up there then a good conversation on the phone to guide you thru it I think would be most helpful from. It is not as easy some think it is
 
Oct 28, 2013
678
Hunter 20 Lake Monroe
Boatlifts are sweet. I have had our keel, 400 lbs, out several times, and the lift method was by far the easiest. The keel jack I made from a motorcycle jack worked, you just need to know the cg of the keel.
Good write up. With the advent of cameras in our phones I now take lots of pics both before, during, and after. I am a lousy artist and find my own sketches confusing LOL

Sam
 

Kermit

.
Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
Easy peasy lemon squeezey

okay... honestly.... if Dave had not been there, I would not have had a clue... but he made it look easy.
Willie Mays made centerfield look easy. Chipper Jones made 3rd base and switch-hitting look easy. It took them years of practice and playing time to get there. I believe @Crazy Dave Condon is the Willie Mays of small boat repair.
 
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