Center board construction?

[RTSKI]

How is an O'Day centerboard constructed?
Launching an O'Day 19 off the trailer the bottom (then pointed aft) of the centerboard jammed onto the trailer; appeared to have part of the trailer metal cut into the bottom of the centerboard.
Is the centerboard a laminated core that the cut will cause water to rot the inside or need I not worry about it?

 

[Brian S]

I did the same thing with mine last year. This season, I was able to jack the boat up on the trailer enough to drop the board down a few inches. The damage was nowhere near what I expected, so I just slathered a little bit of thickened epoxy. I thought the trailer member would have cut a notch in the board, but it did not. Just looked scraped on the bottom.

I believe these boards are a foam sandwich between 2 shells. I would like to think the laminate and resin are deeper than 2" along the bottom edge of the board.

This might be a question for Rudy at D&R Marine.

 

[jepomer]

The O'Day 19 centerboard is relatively easy to remove and repair.

Underneath there are two 1/4" bolts holding holding a metal plate on each side of the centerboard (four screws total).

Take the bolts out. Take the plates off. Take the two wedges out that hold the 1" pin. Then the centerboard should drop down. It weighs 53 lbs.

If you are trailer sailing, the centerboard should not soak in too much water during the season. If it is moored, you may want to check its condition and make any repairs if needed.

I snagged the centerboard of my O'Day 19 during one of my early launches. No damage was done.

 

[lp_gilbert]

I just worked on mine this spring. Considering that it has been a moored boat forever it was in pretty good shape. But I think the center of the board is plywood because it looked to me that the notch where the pendant enters was wood. It looked like a Forster was used on it. But there was no rot. I also realized that it is long. I don't know how you would work on it safely except in a boat yard on stands. I needed every bit of a 6 foot step ladder to get into the cockpit. I did not take the center board out because I thought I may be creating more problems than I would solve. has anyone had the centerboard fail by falling out of the boat as long as the plates where solidly attached?

 

[Sunbird22358]

The O'DAY 19 CB is a fiberglass shell, filled mostly with a resin slurry to "glue" the 2 halves together. There may be a small amount of lead flashing in there to achieve negative buoyancy (a few pounds, Rudy would know how much!). There may or may not be some foam inside as partial filler, but When I asked Rudy about the CB for my DS II he said that none of hte centerboards should be hollow, the inside was supposedly filled fully when constructed, however... many if not all will still have pockets of air where the resin slurry didn't fill (I know my DS II CB has them!). As far as I know, plywood wasn't used inside any centerboards by the time the 19 was built.

Search this forum for a previous question on the O'DAY 19 centerboard to find my answer from a talk with Rudy (of D&R Marine).

Although not technically "impossible", the CB should not fall out of any of the O'DAYs that use that setup with the 2 plates holding i na pair of wedges. If the pivot pin had a reall heavy amount of wear, I suppose it could reach a point of being able to fall out, but the only time I have heard of that even coming close to happening, it was due to the 2 wedges having been left out when hte CB was re-installed by a previious owner.

 

[lp_gilbert]

That makes sense about the fiberglass centerboard. The four Phillips head screws that hold up the two plates. are they wood screws or machine screws. My concern about taking them off is of course stripping the heads or stripping the holes they are attached to. The dowel that the center board pivots on. Is it sitting in a pocket of cast iron? Is there a wooden keel that supports the cast iron keelson (?) .? I don't the plates have taken off since 1984 and I'm not sure if anything can reasonably expected to fail inside. any opinions?

 

[jepomer]

That makes sense about the fiberglass centerboard. The four Phillips head screws that hold up the two plates. are they wood screws or machine screws. My concern about taking them off is of course stripping the heads or stripping the holes they are attached to. The dowel that the center board pivots on. Is it sitting in a pocket of cast iron? Is there a wooden keel that supports the cast iron keelson (?) .? I don't the plates have taken off since 1984 and I'm not sure if anything can reasonably expected to fail inside. any opinions?

If I remember correctly, the screws are 1/4"-20 bolts, about 3 inches long. When I took mine out, I inserted the screwdriver torquing it while tapping the far end of the screwdriver with a hammer. The bolts came out relatively easily.

 

[Sunbird22358]

The CB pivot pin is plastic (Nylon?) and sits in a wedge-shaped recess in the fiberglass CB trunk. Below is a basic drawing of the typical O'DAY CB hanger as used on the 19, the 1980-85 DS II, the DS III, and most of the K/CB models (exceptions: 1971-74 O'DAY 23, and very early O'DAY 20)

 

[Ward H]

Looks like how my 25 is set up.

 

[jepomer]

O'Day 19 centerboard pivot construction

I found some nice photos in some old posts of the O'Day 19 centerboard pivot construction. It is probably very similar for most of the smaller O'Days.

 

[RTSKI]

Thanks to all

Thanks to all who answered. Good information and excellent photos and diagrams that are really really helpful. The boat is moored, and I'm not set up to put her up on blocks or stands at home, so I'll see how she does this summer, then figure out how to get her up off the trailer and high up so I can get to the centerboard on dry land.
RTSki