casting a new centerboard wedge?

[srojoetoo]

While organizing reinstallation of centerboard on my OD222, found one was made out of wood and smaller than the other one.

Contemplating making a cast with the good one with plaster of paris and using fortified epoxy to make the new wedge and trimming to mirror image.

Any tips out there on this method?

thnx

tom c

 

[nateman]

Have you contacted Rudy at D&R Marine yet? He may have them or be able to provide some info maybe... They are listed on their site:
O'day 22 Centerboard Wedges.

Price: $68.00

http://www.drmarine.com/products.asp?cat=154

 

[Bill Roosa]

Not sure what kinds of loads these things get but I'd not use just epoxy. Epoxy is not that strong all by itself. Making them out of glass and epoxy from the mold is just as easy.

 

[David S]

RE; Casting a new centerboard wedge

Srojoetoo, I had a wedge bind the centerboard and could not raise it, the screws had loosened and nearly lost the holding plate and wedge. At dockside I went under with a longer screw and philips screw driver to hold the plate and wedge in place until I hauled the O'day 22 out of the water where I could get to the keel, and centerboard and one wedge was gone. I had a machinist make one out of aluminum. I also made two out of a very hard wood ( don't know what kind, it was heavy and dark brown ), and brushed on a couple coats of epoxy.

David S

 

[Joe11688]

Srojoetoo, I had a wedge bind the centerboard and could not raise it, the screws had loosened and nearly lost the holding plate and wedge. At dockside I went under with a longer screw and philips screw driver to hold the plate and wedge in place until I hauled the O'day 22 out of the water where I could get to the keel, and centerboard and one wedge was gone. I had a machinist make one out of aluminum. I also made two out of a very hard wood ( don't know what kind, it was heavy and dark brown ), and brushed on a couple coats of epoxy.

David S

David,
When I first bottom painted my boat after years of trailering, I decided to pull my centerboard out to check the pivot pin, paint the whole centerboard, and the keel slot. The two wood screws were missing for probably a long time. I had to use a heated fish fillet knife to separate the caulking in between the wedges in order to remove them. Even though they had wood screws going through the plates and into the wedges, it's really the caulking that holds those wedges in place more so than the wood screws.
I think that you could use almost anything to duplicate these wedges provided that the caulking will adhere to them of course.
I wound up reconstructing both of my wedges with West System epoxy and filler. Then I used 3-M 4200 to adhere the wedges to the rabbet grooves. I bought two new wood screws and installed them.

I think that you could get away with making a wedge out of 1/4" exterior plywood using epoxy and epoxy filler. The secret to holding these wedges in place which ultimately supports the fiber pivot pin, is to use a good adhesive caulking like 3-M 4000 UV Fast Cure Adhesive Sealant, or the 3-M 4200 or 3-M 5200. The 3-M 5200 is the strongest, but if you ever needed to remove the wedges, you could use a fillet knife with a heated blade from a blow torch.

 

[Joe11688]

While organizing reinstallation of centerboard on my OD222, found one was made out of wood and smaller than the other one.

Contemplating making a cast with the good one with plaster of paris and using fortified epoxy to make the new wedge and trimming to mirror image.

Any tips out there on this method?

thnx

tom c

Tom,
I would try to make the wedge out of 1/4" plywood. Cut it out so that it is a little undersized to make room for a coat of West System Epoxy and a high or low density filler mixed with the Epoxy for the final step. Then sand it down to the same dimensions of the other wedge. When I first bottom painted my boat, I applied bottom paint inside the keel slot and left the wedge rabbet grooves bare. I also painted the whole centerboard. After I got the centerboard back in and the wedges caulked in place with 3-M 4200, I installed the wood screws into the wedges and let it set up good. Then I applied bottom paint over both of the wedges.
As I mentioned to David, the wood screws that was supposed to be in the bottom of my plates that screw into the bottom of the wedges, were long gone and I had to reconstruct the wedges with Epoxy and filler.
After I installed the centerboard with the wedges and plates in place, I drilled the pilot holes into the bottom of both of the wedges for the screws by using the existing screw holes in both plates. It's just a matter of making sure that your bore the holes in the center of the bottom of the wedges. Then I installed the wood screws.
I had gone down to see Rudy at D&R Marine to pick his brains on this O'Day keel/centerboard set up because I had no knowledge at the time of how it was set up. Then, I really wasn't sure about it until someone posted a sketch of it. After seeing that sketch, the fog started to roll away and I had a better understanding of the set up. Personally, I think that it's one of the best I've seen. Probably the hardest part of the job is trying to remove the 1/4" Phillips head bolts without breaking them. I had one that was very stubborn but I finally got it out by applying WD-40 and using an impact driver. There are two sheets of either brass or bronze plates embedded into the lead keel according to Rudy, and the bolts are threaded into these plates. So if you happen to break off a bolt, you could drill a new hole and tap it for threads for that bolt. This is always nice to know. If I ever have to remove these bolts again I'm going to use a cordless impact drill with a Phillips bit in the chuck. It's a lot easier that the impact driver.
I coated the bolt threads with Never-Seize before I installed them into the keel so maybe I won't have too much of a problem removing them again----- Not!!!