As I stated, we did not discover that the centerboard had not gone down until about three years ago. There was no real way to know that pulling on the down line did not do much until we saw cleaning in the fall that it was down only a few inches. We removed the bolt that holds the centerboard. We replaced the lines and cleaned out the slot in the keel where the centerboard is attached. We found some stuff in the opening and cleaned it out. I think that the centerboard is very badly designed. The line to lower it does not have enough purchase to lower a very light centerboard that wants to float. We tried to push it down with three two by fours in a U shape. It would not move. It was only when the new neighbor on the slip offered to dive, did we get it down. The diver said that he had to push real hard to get it to move. I pulled on the block and tackle and secured it after he had it down. He said it was perpendicular to the hull it the down position. And he offered to help us get it back up at the end of the season as there will be some ocean growth that he thinks will make it hard to get up. We plan to again take the centerboard out next spring and clean it again. We wax the hull every year and repaint the bottom. We will put bottom paint on the entire centerboard and plan to put some kind of grease to get it up and down. We knowing more about the problem, plan also to get some weight at the bottom of the centerboard, by putting some lead in the bottom. I have not sailed the boat since, the weather has been terrible the last couple of days. I expect the boat will handle much better.
