I have been bothered by the number of posts about the H216 centerboard and centerboard cable. We need to solve the problem. I have had my keel bearing replaced. Also, my centerboard SS housing is bent due to miss adjusted trailer bunks and the weight of the boat basically resting on the keel. I think there are three problems: 1. The weight of the keel supporting the boat while trailering due to miss adjusted trailer bunks. 2. The keel not resting on the keel rest during trailering due to forgetting to lower the keel after being put on the trailer. 3. Too much power on the hydraulic mechanism causing broken cables, shackles, etc. The keel supporting the boat while trailering should be a warning to the buyer and the dealer's responsibility. If I were to buy my boat new, I would check the keel positioning and make sure it can slop back and forth before I accepted delivery. My dealer is terrible and I finally had to fabricate my own rear bunk supports to get enough height to avoid the keel supporting the boat. I have an older boat and the trailers may have been upgraded since I bought mine and it may no longer be a problem. Regardless, it is something to check. I cured the keel not resting on the keel rest during trailering by fabricating a spacer that stops me from raising the keel to high. This way, my boat floats on the trailer and, as I pull it out of the water, the keel weight automatically rests on the keel rest as the boat sinks down onto the trailer. I placed the spacer around the hydraulic rod between the cylinder and the end cap of the rod where the cable is attached. My spacer is a "U" shaped thingy with a screw along the top of the "U". I have not cured the "raising it too much" problem other than yelling at my crew. I now ask the crew to pull the cover off and watch the mechanism and "stop when it gets here". I am *AMAZED* how totally powerful the hydraulic cylinder is! I have actually made three spacers as per the prior paragraph, two out of sea board and one out of oak. The first sea board one simply disappeared on it's first use. The second "survived" one use. My crew cranked the hydraulics until they felt back pressure (without ripping off the centerboard housing and watching). I found it broken off and mangled jammed down next to the keel. It had been squished to about 1/2 its original width before it stripped the screw and popped off. My oak one ended up being squished quite thoroughly after its first use. Do you realize how much pressure it takes to squish a 3/4" chunk of oak down to 1/2"!!!! Fortunately I have not broken a cable or shackle but I am convinced my cable is longer than it originally was and/or I have worn out a second keel bearing. I have no solution to this problem. What I really think is needed is an adjustable bypass valve on the hydraulics that limits the "up" travel of the keel. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
H-216 Centerboard and Centerboard Cable
- Thread starter Ranger Paul18580
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After having a too-much-muscle crew break our first one when the boat was new, we now stow the handle under the cover and completely remove the cover each time we raise the keel. Fortunately, we broke ours on the lift as it would be a bear to change it out had the cable broke in deep water. In that case, we wouldn't have been able to get it up on either the lift or a trailer. There is now some small diameter rope that is actually stronger than cable called Spectra. We carry a short length of it and feel that we might just be able to make a temporary cable out of it that would allow us to at least raise the keel high enough to allow it to float onto the trailer and then let the weight of the boat bring it up the rest of the way as we pull the trailer out of the water. Haven't tried it yet as it would have to be pulled over the same pulley as the cable and there's not enough clearance to do that.
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Lamar Sumerlin
Design Issues with the H216 C.B. Cable/Hyd Cyl
The design of the H216 center board cable/hydraulic cylinder is flawed. From a sound engineering perspective, one would either design a cable with adequate strength such that the hydraulic cylinder wouldn't over power it under reasonable situations or design the cyliner with some sort of stop or pressure release to prevent the cable from being overpowered. I'm sure Hunter Marine has designers quite capable of accomplishing this. I would think the simplest solution would be to perhaps make the cable a bit larger and perhaps re-design the shackle, pulley and associated hardware such that it would be practically impossible for the hydraulic cylinder to overpower it. This solution could very easily rolled into the cost of the boat without any great impact on the selling price. However, from my observation of American industry in recent years, accountants run the business and not the engineers. And, as such this is the reason that American industry is losing to foreign competition in so many ways.
The design of the H216 center board cable/hydraulic cylinder is flawed. From a sound engineering perspective, one would either design a cable with adequate strength such that the hydraulic cylinder wouldn't over power it under reasonable situations or design the cyliner with some sort of stop or pressure release to prevent the cable from being overpowered. I'm sure Hunter Marine has designers quite capable of accomplishing this. I would think the simplest solution would be to perhaps make the cable a bit larger and perhaps re-design the shackle, pulley and associated hardware such that it would be practically impossible for the hydraulic cylinder to overpower it. This solution could very easily rolled into the cost of the boat without any great impact on the selling price. However, from my observation of American industry in recent years, accountants run the business and not the engineers. And, as such this is the reason that American industry is losing to foreign competition in so many ways.
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Lamar Sumerlin
Spectra Rope?
Mr. Ernie, Fortunately, I haven't had any problems yet with the center board lifting cable. However, I think it is just a matter of time before I do based on your and others experience. Could you tell us how I could get some of this Spectra cable? Also, in your opinion could you rig an over sized length of this Spectra cable from the center board shackle over the pulley and back to the attachment pin to the hydraulic cylinder to be there if the stainless steel cable breaks? Lamar
Mr. Ernie, Fortunately, I haven't had any problems yet with the center board lifting cable. However, I think it is just a matter of time before I do based on your and others experience. Could you tell us how I could get some of this Spectra cable? Also, in your opinion could you rig an over sized length of this Spectra cable from the center board shackle over the pulley and back to the attachment pin to the hydraulic cylinder to be there if the stainless steel cable breaks? Lamar
Good ol' duct tape?
What I am doing to my cable is wrapping duct tape around cable and placing some on metal cassette. You can then use sharpie to mark a line on both pieces when they line up when the keel is in the up position. That way, after you lower, you will know when raising to stop when the two lines meet. 1002 ways to use duct tape.....
What I am doing to my cable is wrapping duct tape around cable and placing some on metal cassette. You can then use sharpie to mark a line on both pieces when they line up when the keel is in the up position. That way, after you lower, you will know when raising to stop when the two lines meet. 1002 ways to use duct tape.....
Cable
Spectra is actually a type of cordage not actually cable. I think that it can be purchased at most of the better known sailing equipment suppliers such as Layline. It is a bit pricey, probably $1.50 to $2.00 a foot. As far a marking the cable and/or also using a shim: First, the only way to make a spacer/shim would be out of stainless and start out by drilling a hole in a solid block and the cutting it into two halves to then be screwed or clamped together. In our case, that would have only worked for a little while as over the last two years, our cable has streched about a half inch or more which would have required several resizings of the spacer/shim or repositioning of any markers. Over all, in my opinion, it's just safer to lift up the cover and pay attention to what you are doing as you raise up the board. It's easy enough to see when the board comes up against the stop. Could it have been better designed? Probably, but at least we don't need a wench and heavy duty arm like is necessary on a Melges 24.
Spectra is actually a type of cordage not actually cable. I think that it can be purchased at most of the better known sailing equipment suppliers such as Layline. It is a bit pricey, probably $1.50 to $2.00 a foot. As far a marking the cable and/or also using a shim: First, the only way to make a spacer/shim would be out of stainless and start out by drilling a hole in a solid block and the cutting it into two halves to then be screwed or clamped together. In our case, that would have only worked for a little while as over the last two years, our cable has streched about a half inch or more which would have required several resizings of the spacer/shim or repositioning of any markers. Over all, in my opinion, it's just safer to lift up the cover and pay attention to what you are doing as you raise up the board. It's easy enough to see when the board comes up against the stop. Could it have been better designed? Probably, but at least we don't need a wench and heavy duty arm like is necessary on a Melges 24.
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Ranger Paul
H-216 Centerboard Spacer
Mr. Ernie, You misunderstand about the spacer. I only mentioned it to emphasize how much pressure the hydraulics have. My "U" shaped sea board and oak spacers with a bolt across the top of the "U" would have worked fine if they had not gotten squished by the pressure. These spacers are there simply to stop me from raising the keel to high. This way, when the boat floats onto the trailer and I pull the trailer out of the water, the keel automatically settles on the keel rest and I don't not have to remember to release the hydraulics. Forgetting the hydraulics once and having 500# of lead bouncing on the sheaves, cable, etc. would not be a good thing. My cable has 'stretched' also. I now believe that this is not really 'normal' stretch but stretch due to excessive pressure, or the pressure causing the keel bearing to elongate, or something like that. I just have trouble believing that the short length of cable, with it being the size it is, is going to stretch 1/2". I replaced my keel bearing and it seemed elongated. I am really hoping someone comes up with some type of adjustable mechanism that squeals or shrieks or something when the keel is high enough. Something that drags a pointer along would also work. I have thought about the pointer thing before as I have a tendency to want to raise keel when racing downwind. It would be nice to know the position of the keel at all times. Until then, I totally agree with you that the best bet is to yank the cover and watch the mechanism as the keel is cranked. Of course, I usually have the crew or guests do this while I go fetch the truck so explaining it to them thoroughly is very important.
Mr. Ernie, You misunderstand about the spacer. I only mentioned it to emphasize how much pressure the hydraulics have. My "U" shaped sea board and oak spacers with a bolt across the top of the "U" would have worked fine if they had not gotten squished by the pressure. These spacers are there simply to stop me from raising the keel to high. This way, when the boat floats onto the trailer and I pull the trailer out of the water, the keel automatically settles on the keel rest and I don't not have to remember to release the hydraulics. Forgetting the hydraulics once and having 500# of lead bouncing on the sheaves, cable, etc. would not be a good thing. My cable has 'stretched' also. I now believe that this is not really 'normal' stretch but stretch due to excessive pressure, or the pressure causing the keel bearing to elongate, or something like that. I just have trouble believing that the short length of cable, with it being the size it is, is going to stretch 1/2". I replaced my keel bearing and it seemed elongated. I am really hoping someone comes up with some type of adjustable mechanism that squeals or shrieks or something when the keel is high enough. Something that drags a pointer along would also work. I have thought about the pointer thing before as I have a tendency to want to raise keel when racing downwind. It would be nice to know the position of the keel at all times. Until then, I totally agree with you that the best bet is to yank the cover and watch the mechanism as the keel is cranked. Of course, I usually have the crew or guests do this while I go fetch the truck so explaining it to them thoroughly is very important.
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