Center Board is Loose
I recently experienced my center board cable to come loose on my '91 26S. My cable was attached to the lee of the keel with a bold though an eyelette in the cable and the bold pulled out of the keel. The keel had a 1" hole horizonal and to the lee of the keel and a slot in the back side of the keel where the cable came down from the cabin, though the keel, and a bold was though the 1" hole, though the eyelette of the cable completing a "T" effect. I had to hoist the boat up and install a metal FLAT iron on each side of the keel which enabled me to insert a bold though the flat iron on one side of the keel, though the cable eyelette and though the second flat iron on the other side of the keel. The flat iron was 3 to 4 inches long and about 1/4 inch thick. I used 2 bolds to attach the flat irons to the keel and used the same 1" opening in the keel so that it would be the same angle etc for the connection. BE AWARE - there is limited clearance in the TOP of the keel well in the hull, so the deminsions added to the keel should be minimal. My keel does stick up in the well if I pull it up to hard so I would recommend using thinner flat iron. Use stainless steel material, of course. It took about 30 mintues to complete the task but I was prepared with a couple of options. The hoist cost me $50 for the 1st hour but some were quoting me as much as $100 to $120. GOOD Luck. By the way, I sailed by boat for about a month before I fixed the problem. I just used a line to sling under the boat when I needed to raise the keel.
