Underwater Centerboard Repair

[Open Water Sailor]

I am a beginner sailor and have a small 16 ft sailboat with a 205 pound centerboard that I now learn is fiberglass encased lead. The pendant wire is detached from the centerboard. There is not a beach nearby in which I can beach it and easily work on it, and I can't afford to take it back out of the water or to a boat repair shop, and I won't have anyone with me to help me. I only have two options other than cutting the trunk off. With the mast up, I can roll the boat over to its side in shallow water and get access to the centerboard that way, but that will be a messy procedure because the cockpit is not self draining and I would have to take a lot of stuff out, and then there is the question of how can I get the cb fully extended while it is on its side in shallow water; would I be able to just pull the big thing, clutching it tightly on its side, out to its fully extended position? My other option is to simply to walk it over to about 4 or 5 feet of water, when waters and weather is calm, and go below with a scuba mask and a submersible flash light attached to me, and do the repair as quickly as I can. I know the exact location where the pendant wire will be sticking out of (back side of the centerboard half way down) and how it is supposed to be attached. Here's the job: The pendant wire will most likely be sticking out of the small hole while the wire's loop end (with facet) prevents the wire to go back into the trunk area. Then there will be a larger hole that is built into the centerboard. The wire loop end goes through that hole, and I believe around it, and the loop gets crimped or swaged around a thimble. I cannot afford a swaging tool at this time, and I am not sure exactly how to swage the wire loop around a thimble or even why a thimble is used. For those people who have worked on reattaching the pendant wire to the centerboard, given the info stated above, what would be my other options for a quick repair job that would hold the wire loop onto that hole for at least a season? Can I just lash it on with a rope? I was thinking to tie a rope on to a shackle (while on land) and then once I am down there, have the other end of the rope go through the hole and wrap it tightly around the hole and tie it with a bowline knot or some other secure knot, and then of course slip the wire loop into the shackle w/in. I am open to all suggestions and ideas -- preferably from experienced sailors who have reattached pendant wires to their centerboard before without the use of a crimping tool or a swaging tool (other than nose pliers). Many thanks in advance.

 

[Charlie13958]

When you get to where you can work on it, have a length of strap iron that will go around the cb and a bolt/nut to hold it together. Run the pendant under the bolt and use two cable clamps to hold it together. Tighten the bolt going through the strap iron. Strap iron is that steel strap with the holes in it that plumbers use to hang pipes.

 

[Open Water Sailor]

Underwater Centerboard Repair -- Attaching pendant wire to centerboard

If there is any salty old sailor out there, or anyone, who has experience attaching the pendant wire back on to the centerboard after the thimble or shackle had broken off from the cb, I would greatly appreciate it if you could read my last post (that goes into detail about the problem and the situation) and try to help me out. Thanks in advance.

 

[Open Water Sailor]

Thanks for your response Charlie; I appreciate it. But I think you may have misunderstood a little what I wrote. The centerboard is attached to the boat; it's holding together fine. It is the lifting wire -- the pendant wire -- that hauls up and lowers down the centerboard that came detached. While the centerboard is hanging down all of the way, I am going to attempt to reattach the end loop of the wire to where it goes on the cb -- which for this particular boat is on the back side of the centerboard about half way down. I need to lower the cb all of the way down n order to get to it. The thimble or shackle that was connecting the wire to the centerboard must have finally gave out from old age, corrosion, and an inordinate amount of pressure applied to it. I am trying to come up with the best way to reattach the end loop of the wire to the hole on the centerboard so that the wire will hold on there firmly, for at least the season. But the real challenge is that I am going to attempt to do this underwater. If anyone is interested in why I am choosing this option, you can read the original post, but right now, I am interested in resolving the matter (in about five feet of water on a nice calm day). I have heard that some people just tie the thing on with rope. If I can't come up with a better solution, I am considering tying rope to a shackle where the loop end of the wire would go and then tie the other end of the rope around the centerboard after it goes through the particular hole, the place of attachment. Is there anyone on here who has experience using a swaging tool and working with attaching pendant wire to the centerboard; if so, I would love to hear your input on this matter.

 

[T37 Phil]

It's a little tough to keep track of your topic, since you've opened several differnt threads on it. In the future it might help to just repost in your one thread to recycle it back to the top of the forum list.

Reading this last post of yours, I have several comments.

1) The board is down and the line/cable not attached to the board. Is the end of the cable a multistrand SS wire rope? If so, you can't reuse it without properly cleaning up the end and getting a good fitting on it. You probably cannot do that underwater in low to zero visibility. You probably shouldn't do it at all, as the fact that it failed is an indication that it's time to replace it.

2) Are you 100% sure that the attachment point on the cb is still intact? If you had a failure, it's possible that the padeye or whatever the pennant connected to is also damaged or gone.

3) If you're using line to replace wire rope, you must be very careful that any blocks and fittings are appropriate for line. They aren't the same thing and line can chafe, jam and break when run over wire rope rigging.

4) What is the other end of the control line/cable connected to in the cockpit? If it's wire rope then you're probably not cleating it. If it's attached to some lever mechanism, then again you should be very careful about replacing wire rope with line. It's not the case that line of the same diameter as SS cable has the same properties. In fact, if you're a truly new sailor, you should be aware that there are many kinds of line, each with their own properties. Using an inexpensive line that is not low-stretch and is the same diameter as your old wire rope is just asking for trouble.

Using a reasonably heavy line (like a halyard or sheet) is fine to make a sling that you slide under the boat to keep the cb up while you move the boat or prepare to work on it.

My apologies if you've already discussed this in one of the other threads.

 

[Seattle Scott]

Did you ask these guys how the thing hooks up or what part broke and how to reattach? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DS16-DillerSchwill16/

My only caution is not to be under the boat with the boat tipped partially on its side on the beach - in the event there is any chance of the hull coming down on you.

One suggestion if you are going the way of putting the boat in a few feet of water and then going under for repairs. You have a pendant with an eye in the end and no fitting on the other end. Perhaps, pull the whole pendant free then stick the non-eye end thru whatever attachement point on the CB and then back thru the eye - sort of a girth hitch. then you have to drop a messenger line down thru the trunk to attach to the bitter end of the pendant to fish it back thru the trunk. Maybe this could be accomplished with snorkle gear.