Changing the Center board line for an Oday 25
- Thread starter NCC Orion
- Start date
Is it in the water, on a trailer, or what?
If you can lower the board on land it's quite easily done. In the water, not so much; you need to get to the board to shackle the line to it.
Some ODays have a sheave above the board, some have a straight drop through the tube into the trunk. If it's a straight shot, as mine was, then you can run a fish tape through and pull the pendant back to the cockpit. I'm to sure if that works on boats that have a sheave, but I imagine it would if done patiently.
Rudy at D&R Marine sells the line with a narrow shackle (required). Next time I replace mine, I may consider splicing dyneema line directly to the board.
Thanks for the response! We are launching it Friday. Can't lower it on the cradle, but once in the crane we should be able to. Do you think i could attach the new line from the centerboard side and pull it up through to the cockpit?
Yes, that is exactly how I changed the line on my Oday 23.
Unhook the old shackle from the centerboard and remove it from the line. Hook the new shackle (on its new line) to the centerboard. Take the cockpit end of the new line, and duct tape it firmly to the shackle end of the old line.
Go up into the cockpit and remove the grommet on the bridge deck that surrounds the hole that the pendent line uses. You need to do this because there isn't sufficient clearance for the bulk of the duct taped joint to pass thru the grommet.
Now pull the new line into the cockpit by hauling in the old line. Once the new line is in the cockpit, undo the taped joint, put the grommet over the end of the new line and reaffix it.
Of course, this whole thing would work in reverse too if you wanted to pull the new line through from the cockpit side down to the centerboard. Either way, no problem. Just don't forget to tie a new stopper knot on your new pendent line!
And I bought my new pendent line with shackle from Rudy at D&R. Not the cheapest solution, but I was having a heck of a time finding a replacement shackle that would fit. Rudy had it and made it easy.
Yep, what they said. What I will add is if you use minimal tape, you won't have to take the cockpit end fitting off.
Also, the 25s do not have a sheave. The pendant tube is a straight shot so it is pretty easy to feed the new line in.
I switched to dyneema 1/4" line this spring. A little holder to grip but it is working well.
Also, the 25s do not have a sheave. The pendant tube is a straight shot so it is pretty easy to feed the new line in.
I switched to dyneema 1/4" line this spring. A little holder to grip but it is working well.
Hi ward- my new 25 does have a bullet block in the bulkhead- I replaced the original with a new Harken for about 10$, and it's great.
Hey Ritdog,
A bullet block in the bulkhead sounds like a neat idea if I understand what your saying. It is in place of the through hull? Any chance of a photo?
And that last sentence should have been "A little harder to grip but it is working well"
Thanks RD.
A bullet block in the bulkhead sounds like a neat idea if I understand what your saying. It is in place of the through hull? Any chance of a photo?
And that last sentence should have been "A little harder to grip but it is working well"
Thanks RD.
I just did this on my in the water 23' a few days ago. Save yourself some $ and DON'T get the replacement pendant from D and R marine, which I did, and ended up removing anyway.
Get yourself a pair of swim masks from Walmart and jump over the side when the boat is tied up at the dock. It is not difficult to swim underneath and get the pendant line. My line was hooked up, via shackle, to a 3' pendant wire that is attached to the centerboard. Remove the shackle, and thread a new line to the old line in the cockpit. I used only 1/4" line that I had lying around, if you think about it, there is not a lot of weight needed to lift that fiberglass centerboard when it's in the water. Pull the old line through and just TIE on the new line with a round turn and some half hitches. DO NOT use a shackle, because I believe that is why my centerboard is always getting stuck when you fully retract it into the keel slot.
The whole process should take about 30 minutes. I needed about 10 dives to do this. You also might need some sort of weight added to minimize your buoyancy. I did this when the sun was at it highest to illuminate under the water, but I also have an underwater head lamp that helped illuminate the pendant wire and the new knot.
Think of all the $$$ you will save by not having a boat yard do it. Plus, you will be like a real McGuyver by doing it yourself. Good luck!
Get yourself a pair of swim masks from Walmart and jump over the side when the boat is tied up at the dock. It is not difficult to swim underneath and get the pendant line. My line was hooked up, via shackle, to a 3' pendant wire that is attached to the centerboard. Remove the shackle, and thread a new line to the old line in the cockpit. I used only 1/4" line that I had lying around, if you think about it, there is not a lot of weight needed to lift that fiberglass centerboard when it's in the water. Pull the old line through and just TIE on the new line with a round turn and some half hitches. DO NOT use a shackle, because I believe that is why my centerboard is always getting stuck when you fully retract it into the keel slot.
The whole process should take about 30 minutes. I needed about 10 dives to do this. You also might need some sort of weight added to minimize your buoyancy. I did this when the sun was at it highest to illuminate under the water, but I also have an underwater head lamp that helped illuminate the pendant wire and the new knot.
Think of all the $$$ you will save by not having a boat yard do it. Plus, you will be like a real McGuyver by doing it yourself. Good luck!
The centerboard on a 25 does not have a pendant wire so the line has to connected to the CB with a shackle. An eye splice is needed to connect the line to the shackle as there is not much room between the top of the shackle and the bottom of the pendant tube. I doubt a knot would work without catching or getting stuck at the top of the trunk on the tube.
You also have to watch how wide a shackle and clevis pin you use. My shackle had a 25mm wide pin and it got stuck in the trunk 6" from the top. Rudy's shackle had a 20mm wide pin and that just fit at the top of the trunk.
The 23's must be different.
You also have to watch how wide a shackle and clevis pin you use. My shackle had a 25mm wide pin and it got stuck in the trunk 6" from the top. Rudy's shackle had a 20mm wide pin and that just fit at the top of the trunk.
The 23's must be different.
We have a 25, but it does have a shackle with a cable pendant. The end of the cable is swaged. The CB was replaced a while ago, so maybe it didn't originally have a cable on it. It works fine so I am assuming I should try to get a new cable/rope one made. The shackle is in very good shape, just the rope is getting old. Has anyone tried splicing cable to rope? I have directions to do it, but am a little nervous, having never done it before. Thanks!!
I think that most uses of cable/rope combinations had more to do with the quality of the line available than a need to have wire. Today's synthetic lines are strong enough and stretch resistent enough to substitute for wire in just about any situation; they are certainly strong enough to handle the Oday 25 centerboard. I'd much rather have a single line of synthetic rope submerged most of the time than a metal cable. Not to mention that anytime you have to link cable with line, you create just another mechanical connection that may fail at some point. I'd definitely go with the pendent line/shackle combo that Rudy sells rather than try and have a cable/line combo custom made. And if you are really looking to save money, you can buy the line and an appropriately sized shackle separately. I know I tried to find the right sized shackle some years ago, and it required a special order through West Marine. Even though I would have saved about $10 over what Rudy was charging, I went with the easy buy.