Stuck centerboard in 1972 Oday 23

[joeco]

Has anybody removed the CB from the keel. Mine needs to be repaired and pendant attached, but after drilling out the plastic pin the CB seems to be stuck up around the pin hole and will not come down. It is on a trailer so I can only get the CB halfway down and wondered if it must be all the way down to come out. Will be greatfull for any advice. Thanks, joeco33

 

[karl mattson]

had that problem

my swing keel on my oday ds 2,was stuck posted all over,just couldn't get it down,sailors recomennded jacking stern in air in order to gain access to swing keel,i really had a bad ex jacking up getting under and wham down she came just missed me,what i did after really studying it,on the trailer the keel can't come down,cross beams of trailer stop the keel,go to eye bolt on bow see krank,you will use it to pull your boat forward until the keel clears and can be lowered,your probably going to move that front forward as far as you can even to unbolting it and move the unbolted pc forward,the keel should be able to come down but it's resting on dirt, dig a slit trench until there's room for the keel to be completely down.

 

[Keith S]

Should Come Out

There are lots of posts here about centerboards (ODays do not have swing keels). On the 23, the setups for early 1970s (with the iron keel) and late 1970s-80s (with the intergral fiberglass keel) boats are very different, even though the centerboard itself is the same.I have a 1973 with the iron keel. My centerboard was pinned with a 1" diam Stainless Steel pin, driven straight through the keel. When I did my centerboard replacement, the yard applied some heat on the keel to get the pin loose. I am surprised that yours is plastic. The pin passes through a hard plastic bushing in the front center of the board. The board fits loosely in the keel slot, once all of the debris is cleaned out around it. So if you really have all of the pin drilled out and the pendant is wound off the post crank, it should just fall out. It is fiberglass wrapped and weights about 50 lbs.It is easiest to clean the slot completely and work on the board when you have the boat up on a lift, and can let the board swing all the way down. But if you have enough clearance to get the end of the centerboard swung out of the slot, then it will slide on out, if the pin is really fully drilled out.