My philosophy on repair never ceases to prove correct. With anything mechanical I always know that fixing one problem always uncovers other unforeseen problems. I also go by the rule of threes. Meaning if i think it will take 1-2 days to do a project it will actually take 3-6 days. Its always 3 times as long as I expect. This project was no exception.
When we were sailing the boat in Saratoga we noticed the up-haul line for the centerboard was fraying around the pulley that routes the line down into the compression post. On our recent trip to Lake Eustis the outer casing of the line broke completely. There was enough of the inner strands of the line to pull the centerboard back up into position but we knew we would not be able to let the board down again for fear of not being able to haul it back up. That would be a mess to try to get it back on the trailer like that.
Not only was the up-haul line an issue but there was a leak that was originating from somewhere in the area of the centerboard mounting spot and was causing water to pool up in the storage areas below the seats around the table. So all that said we decided we had to fix everything before we could sail again.
The first issue was getting the boat lifted to get the board out. We wrestled with this problem for a week weighing out the various options. Everywhere that would lift the boat up for us, regaurdless if the just held it in the air for us to change the line or block it up to let us work on it, was going to cost about 200-250 dollars. We really just don't have that much lying around to toss at the problem. Plus I knew that if I got in there a discovered a bigger problem then we would be in for more money as we paid to keep the boat blocked or paid to have it lifted again another day. Either way I wasn't confident that it was issues that could be fixed in one fell swoop.
So I opted for the redneck engineering method which I am pretty proficient at. After toying around with a few ideas I settled on "why not lift the bow with a floor jack, sticking boards in between the boat and trailer bunks as we go, until the boat is high enough for the centerboard to slide out the front." Dangerous? Probably. Stupid? You bet. Did it work? Sho nuff. It was not by any means easy but we did get the board out despite it being very precarious having the boat teetering so far up on the floor jack
Once the board was freed from beneath the boat the real work began. I had attached the new up-haul line (that Amber and I bought from the Marlow booth at the Annapolis Boat Show) to the old one that way I could pull the new one through. This of course did not work according to plan. The two lines separated when trying to pull them through because the new line came off the pulley that it rides on before dropping down through the compression post and got wedged. I was pretty angry and went on to another stage of the project.
The centerboard was pretty dirty, especially the half that sits in the trunk. I sanded off all the barnacles and build up.
The next step involved the board trunk. The fiberglass on either side where the bracket sits was busted and open. Come to find out the welds on the nut that is attached to the centerboard bracket had failed. It was allowing the bracket to move in the trunk and bang against the fiberglass. I patched the holes with some quality Duraglas and re-welded the the nut to the centerboard bracket. These two issues more than anything would have caused a tremendous amount of headache (and money) had I paid someone to lift the boat for me.
Now the up-haul line. With a bit of fishing line and a lead weight I plumbed down the compression post from on top of the boat hoping the weighted line would come out the bottom. No luck after countless tries. From the bottom I could see some 5200 sealant inside the hole that the line goes through. I grabbed a metal clothes hanger, straightened it, and bent a sharp crook in it. I fished it up into the hole with the hopes of grabbing the fishing line and pulling it through. I ended up having to hook out all the excess sealant before I could finally grab the fishing line and get it through with the up-haul line attached. This was about and hour process.
Now came the task of lifting the boat back up to precarious heights (it was lowered after removing the centerboard) and wrestle a 100 pound centerboard up into place. I took the advice of Pat Adams from his article on a H26 centerboard line replacement and bought a 12" threaded rod to help line the centerboard bracket into place when feeding it up into the trunk. Pop and I struggled for a good bit with this. It took over and hour to finally get the board in the trunk and into the right position.
I lowered the boat down on the board and went to put the bolt in that holds the centerboard bracket when Murphy took over. The big, stainless, very important bolt that is the only thing attaching a swinging 100 pound board to the boat twisted in two at the head. I almost couldn't believe what I was looking at. The head had twisted off with almost no effort on my part. I was devastated.
Now I had to make a decision. I could try an ez-out bit and back the bolt back out the way it came or I could spend the next few hours re-raising the boat and wrestling the board out from the trunk. I opted to buy an ease out. I had to go buy another stainless bolt anyway which I ended up locating at a Fastenal store.
Now came the fun part. My Grandpa (Papa) and I spent 45 minutes drilling a hole in the remnants of the stainless bolt shaft. We had to keep alternating between a step bit and a regular metal bit just to get a hole about .75" deep. Finally the ez-out had enough area to grab and we twisted the bolt back out the way it came. Success!! I slapped the new stainless bolt in and the project was finished.
All of the events in this post are condensed of course because this project was actually spread across 4 days in the afternoons before I work. If I had paid someone to lift the boat I would have probably been out about 500-750 dollars. I love DIY!
The very last step in this project was purely aesthetic. We had finally decided on a name. I created the logo with a combination of Gimp (a free photoshop program) and Microsoft Publisher. I then emailed it to Outer Image in Bushnell, FL and viola. She is now "Happy Day." The story behind the name is it's a commonly used phrase by my friend Rick who we got the boat from. He will ask "happy days?" Which means "is everything good?" And with this boat everything is good. We couldn't think of a more fitting name or a better homage to such an amazing opportunity. Thank you, Rick!
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| Dirty girl! |
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| I had three straps in total. Not that this would really stop 6000 lbs of boat from sliding backwards as I lifted the front.... |
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| Totally safe... |
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| Guard chickens |
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| She has a name! |
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| I'm slightly concerned about the quality of the metal used but I guess it is 18 years old. |
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| Ez-outs are a magical thing. Note: the bronze looking bolt in this picture is not the one I used. It is grade 8, not a stainless. I didn't realize when I bought it that it would not have the corrosion resistance like a stainless. I ended up going to my local Fastenal store and buying an actual stainless bolt. |
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