Centerboard Re-do
I am in the process on my 1971 Mariner. Here's my basic process to date. 1. Remove Centerboard. 2. Remove all rust and bad stuff. 3. Coat with West System Epoxy. Other components addressed. - The centerboard pin/washers/gaskets/ and bushing assembly. I did a lot of tap tap and then pound pound to get the pin to come out. I had already wedged the c'board up from the trailer to free the pin from weight. The issue was that the bronze bushing had worn out of round and was constricted. I considered replacing the bushing, but after an internal discussion concerning anal retentiveness and perfection vs perfectly fine for another 30 years, I emery clothed the inner part of the bushing to rotate freely and JB Weld filled the outer portion back to round where the c'board had worn it away a little. I did order a few new gaskets from Stuart Marine. - The holes in the c'board trunk were a little elongated. I put the pin in with a bungee cord over the top of the trunk to hold it up at the top of the oval holes. I filled the bottom with epoxy. (I may wear back down, but that's another 10+ years. - As I mixed and used small batches of epoxy, I also crawled under and patched at a few areas on the sides of the centerboard slot that showed some wear. (Also filled in some voids that showed up along there. Step 2 the centerboard cleanup - after trying a bunch of sanding, grinding, and chipping, I took it over to a guy with a sandblaster. This was the best $40 I spent for a while. The tip here is to have your epoxy ready to go so that when it been blasted you get home and get a coat on it. My process was: - tie a line through the big hole and raise it off the ground. - I bought two West additives, the filler, and the barrier coat. I used the barrier coat only the first coat. - My hanging method was mickey mouse and hard to work at so I laid it horizontally on a small bench and worked one side at a time and filled and sanded and filled and sanded. Once I got it pretty good, I raised it again to do a final coat of resin. - There's where I am. I plan to paint it with a coat or two of epoxy paint and then a coat or two of antifouling paint. Some still debatable issues. 1) would using OSPHO or some other prep on the bare metal be a good or bad thing? The sandblast guy recommended bonding the epoxy straight to the clean board and I did. 2) I have used no glass in the filling and smoothing process. I may still stick a bit of reinforcement around the bottom and run a strip of 2" tape down the leading edge. (more of the perfect or perfectly good discussion). I got a swaging tool off of e-bay for $15 to re-do the cable. I'm not sure exactly what cable or size I will be using. Open for suggestions there. I'd be interested in your comments and ideas. Good Luck,' Dale
