Hunter 216 centerboard

Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
I recently decided to haul my 2004 Hunter 216 to check the integrity of the centerboard and to repair the "tape" on either side of the centerboard slot..

With the board fully down and minimal tension of the lift cable via the Sailtec hydraulic lift I measured the side to side swing of the bottom tip of the leading edge of the foil.

It was hard to get a completely accurate measurement due to the weight of the board but it was certainly no more than 2 inches total arc. Based on the clearances I observed between the sides of the board and the centreboard trunk I can't see how the system could have been manufactured to tighter tolerances and am satisfied that there hasn't been any significant wear on the pivot pin or it's housing.

In other words I feel that it's perfectly reasonable to have a little centerboard "slop" or the board would likely bind under load and not be adjustable while underway.

While I had the boat hoisted I took some dimensions and photos for future reference see below:

Board all the way down in the first two and all the way up in third photo

IMG_5357.JPG
IMG_5366.JPG
IMG_5394.JPG


Dimensions of the board, first all the way down, note the foil dimension on the bottom of the photo. The second is the board all the way up. All of the dimensions are referenced off the bottom of the centreboard trunk.

IMG_5447.JPG
IMG_5449.JPG
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,776
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Someone once explained to me that swing keel boats have intentional "slop" built into the keel so that the sides of the keel can press against the sides of the keel trunk. This allows the stress to be displaced over a larger surface area. If there was no slop, all the stress would be concentrated at the pivot pin.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,776
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I guess you want a rather tight fit so that the keel touches a larger area of the trunk but then you want the slop to be in the pivot hole so the keel can lean into the keel trunk.
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
Someone once explained to me that swing keel boats have intentional "slop" built into the keel so that the sides of the keel can press against the sides of the keel trunk. This allows the stress to be displaced over a larger surface area. If there was no slop, all the stress would be concentrated at the pivot pin.
Another reason I pulled the boat was I noticed the inside of the trunk looked discoloured. I moor the boat so it’s rarely out of the water and the zebra mussels had decided to colonize the inside of the trunk slot. Nothing the pressure washer didn’t take care of but left alone they would have created a natural shim to take the slop out! :yikes:;)