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DSC01012 My O'Day 222 has a small pocket way up inside the keel slot with a sheave U bolt assembly attached to it. They probably inserted the assembly with a long tool at the factory. The U bolt has a strap welded to it and resembles a bow eye for the winch hook. The O'Day 26 has a similar set up.
DSC01015 Here's a closer shot of the grooves. OK, so now we were able to remove the plates. The next thing we need to do is remove the wedges without damaging them too much. I took a torch and heated the blade of one of my fish fillet knives and stuck it into the caulking behind the wedge in order to free it. I also did the same with a putty knife blade. What the heck. Luthiers have been using heat to remove guitar necks for hundreds of years, why not use it here? If you screw up the wedge, just clean it up and reconstruct it with West System filler and Epoxy. That's what I wound up doing. Once the wedges are removed the pin won't slide down until you get the grooves cleaned of all the caulking which bring up an important step that your ought to do in preparation for removing the board. You need to Mickey Mouse some way of letting that board down easy so it won't drop down on your head. I took a couple of long lines and went over the top of the cabin with them and tied a Bowline at one end of each line and ran the other end under the keel and through the bowlines with a round turn and two half hitches. I was able to access the line while lay under the keel. I also took a short piece of strapping and cut a V notch on one end and used it to help support the board from the ground. The centerboard isn't that heavy, but you need to be able to control it once you get it free. When you're ready, just loosen the lines and let the board slide down horizontally with the pin sliding down through the grooves. I cleaned the inside of the keel slot and later bottom painted it. I left the groove unpainted for the caulking to adhere to the back of the wedges. Later on after I installed the board and hardware back on, I painted over the wedges.
DSC01014 This is what the forward edge of the bottom of my keel looks like. You can see where the plates fit on each side of the keel slot and also the rabbet grooves where the wedges fit in place. I think it's the best centerboard set up that was ever out on the market. Removing the bolts to the plates was a problem. I had two that were stubborn and it took hours to finally remove them. I used an impact driver which was very tiresome after a while because you need to bang the tool while laying on your back. It would be nice if I could tip the boat upside down and bang down on the tool but I honestly believe that a cordless electric drill/driver like a Makita with an adjustable clutch for the Phillips bit in the chuck would work a whole lot easier and better. Less tiresome too. I was told by Rudy Nickerson of D&R Marine http://www.drmarine.com/ that there are two bronze plates embedded into the lead on each side of this keel slot for the bolts to thread into. This is always good to know just in case you break a bolt and need to drill and re-tap the hole for threads.
DSC00404It was back in Septober or Octember of 2005 that I decided to bottom paint my boat. I hated to do it but it became a pain pulling it out of the water and cleaning marine growth. While I was at it I needed to paint the inside of the keel slot along with the centerboard. To do this the right way I decided to pull the centerboard out and check the pivot pin while I was at it.
DSC00982 This is all that holds that centerboard in place. You have the fiber pin in which the board pivots on, the two Fiberglas wedges shown below the pin, and the two stainless steel plates that bolt to the bottom of the keel on each side of the keel slot under each wedge. Four 1/4" Phillips head bolts hold the plates to the bottom of the keel. Also there are two S.S. wood screws that go through each of these plates and into the bottom of each wedge. It is important to remember that each of these wedges were adhered to the grooves in the keel slot with an adhesive caulking. This is what really holds that centerboard in place. Make no mistakes. If you neglect to use a good adhesive such as 3-M 4000 or 3-M 4200 to adhere these wedges you'll lose the wedges. You could lose the wood screws with no adverse effects to the board or wedges, but you need to have the wedges adhered to the grooves.
DSC00981 This is what my board looks like. The board was easier to paint for the first time after I removed it. The pivot pin was still in good workable condition so I reused it.
O'Day centerboard wedge set up: I'd like to take this opportunity right now to thank the guy who drew up this sketch and posted it on this forum. It's a great drawing and it illustrates how the pin is supported by the wedges and plates.
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