I just did my line myself on my 260 a couple weeks ago. Mine was a multi weekend ordeal as the first time I lifted the boat I discovered the bracket was roached. The pivot hole had worn to a pivot oval and rusted.
My boat was lifted with a 3 ton gantry lift at the stern and then a series of boat stands to get it about 1.5 feet up off the trailer.
A couple tricks I found…
First - tie your new line to the old really really well. I thought mine was and even threaded it with an awl, but it still came apart.
However, I’ve got a simple solution if you make the mistake I made. The line comes out a small tube under the compression post in the centerboard trunk. This tube was the perfect diameter to snuggly fit inside a small hose from a shop vac. With the shop vac connected and on, I went above and took some twine. The vac immediately sucked it in and I had a new feeder line in seconds.
Also - Some suggested using a threaded rod to help align the bracket with the hole inside the boat. I found that this was more difficult than it helped as if it was slightly off the rod would bind. On a proper travel lift maybe the angles are better for this method.
What I did instead was to use two ratchet straps from the side stay eyes going under the centerboard up the other side. I added padding on each side to protect the hull. This allowed me to raise and reposition the centerboard with relative ease. Using this method, I would go back and forth inside and outside adjusting until I had the keel bracket lined up about 1 and a 1/2” below the hole. Then I fed the bolt in, tightened everything up and was good to go.
My boat was lifted with a 3 ton gantry lift at the stern and then a series of boat stands to get it about 1.5 feet up off the trailer.
A couple tricks I found…
First - tie your new line to the old really really well. I thought mine was and even threaded it with an awl, but it still came apart.
However, I’ve got a simple solution if you make the mistake I made. The line comes out a small tube under the compression post in the centerboard trunk. This tube was the perfect diameter to snuggly fit inside a small hose from a shop vac. With the shop vac connected and on, I went above and took some twine. The vac immediately sucked it in and I had a new feeder line in seconds.
Also - Some suggested using a threaded rod to help align the bracket with the hole inside the boat. I found that this was more difficult than it helped as if it was slightly off the rod would bind. On a proper travel lift maybe the angles are better for this method.
What I did instead was to use two ratchet straps from the side stay eyes going under the centerboard up the other side. I added padding on each side to protect the hull. This allowed me to raise and reposition the centerboard with relative ease. Using this method, I would go back and forth inside and outside adjusting until I had the keel bracket lined up about 1 and a 1/2” below the hole. Then I fed the bolt in, tightened everything up and was good to go.