About had it withspitting centerboard case

[JeffM]

Just finished a beautiful trip from Pt Judith, Rhode Island to Block Island, 8nm or so out. A near-flawless trip (very rare for me) but with one exception: my backpack was soaked--even books in a plastic bag were damaged--by water spitting from trunk as we flew back to the mainland with 15kt of wind behind us. This has been a recurring problem that takes my nice dry cabin and makes it almost an open boat again! Sponges stuck in strategic places helps, but is a chore to keep up with. I want to close the trunk, and am trying to decide the best way. I see two options: first, turn upper end of board into a grooved semicircle, and run downhaul around this and out front of case, around block and back to cockpit; second, weight the board and use an uphaul that runs from low on trailing edge up through back of case to cockpit. The first option is more elegant, but also (I'm guessing) more trouble-prone: if downhaul gets off track it could jam the board; also it leaves an opening (though very small) in the cabin. The second would be simple to execute and has the helpful side effect of leaving no cb tackle passing through the cabin*, but leaves an uphaul line dragging in the water, and may cost some adjustability if I want the board lower and the weight is not enough to get it down--especially under press of sail. (I do like the positive control of cb angle I have now.) Either way, I will need to get at the cb sometimes, as I seem always to be jamming it with sand when I beach!

What do you-all think?

Jeff

CS20 #65 Beatrice Ann

*[in a boat crowded with boys and gear, I'm forever yelling "clear the centerboard tackle!"]

[wkisting]

Hi Jeff,

Do you have a picture of your cabin setup? If I'm visualizing your cabin accurately, it might be possible to build a box that fits over the stock head of the existing CB and would only be open facing aft (for the control lines), which would keep the water out of the cabin also. This would mean no modifications to the CB at all. The box would just be the same thickness as the CB case and would ride on top of the case to cover the open slotted area and would only need to be as tall as the lever arm of the CB case at its highest point. (Hope that makes sense).

Of course, modifying the CB itself and closing off the top altogether might look a little more refined, so you may still prefer that route. I'm not sure how ugly my box suggestion might look.

[Joe Anderson]

My EC 22 has a weighted centerboard with an uphaul exiting at the front of the trunk. I have not launched the boat yet so I have no experience with this set up. The lack of direct control of the board to deal with jamming issues is certainly a minus. but a dry cabin is a big plus. My uphaul exits in the cabin but into a small box that has an opening only large enough for the line.

Water pressure is much higher toward the rear of the trunk

I did not end up using the block on the king post.

This is a photo of the uphaul block under the rail of the centerboard trunk.

Our house is on Point Judith Pond. I was working on my boat when I spotted your sails. My wife and I drove down to the breachway to get a closer look. You have no idea how exciting it was to see a B&B boat on the pond. I think you are very modest about the condition for your open water crossing from Bock Island. We had gusts to 20kts on the pond and I am sure they were stronger on the open water.

It was an inspiration to see you cruising the area and I hope to be joining you soon.

[JeffM]

Wes, your idea would work but would take away my starboard seating inside the cabin (since I filled the space between seat and trunk to make my berth flat). But it is an idea I hadn't considered, and it avoids doing violence to cb I might regret later. Maybe if I made the box to follow the arc of swing of the the cb horn...

Joe, it did get windy about halfway back, but only became an issue once inside the pond and trying to sail to weather (put the coaming under briefly, prompting youngest son to hide in cabin!). It was all downhill from BI--wing-and-wing, in fact. I was not about to reef out there, in any event! I think your profile needs updating: it has you in Virginia! Thanks very much for the drawing--it's quite clear. Does the EC cb have an uphaul as well as a downhaul? How do you get positive control?

[Joe Anderson]

The EC 22 has an uphaul but no downhaul. The closed case is drier, but I am thinking that you are giving up a lot when you no longer have the horn to give you direct control of the board.

I wonder if you could fashion some sort of boot that could cover the opening and also be easily opened to grab the board.

I know others have had to deal with this issue but we will see if someone who has gone beyond sponges chimes in.

My wife and I are currently splitting our time between our home in Va and Point Judith.

[wkisting]

I've thought about the boot idea Joe suggested also. I think if you are interested, and assuming the top cover of your CB case is screwed (not glued) on, I would try that first. Just remove the screws and pull off the top cover. Then put two strips of some kind of material like a thin rubber waterproof pond liner (the kind landscapers use) running along each side of the case and slightly overlapping over the center of the board. Then screw the top cover of the CB case back in place, which should be enough to hold the strips in place. If it works like I'm envisioning, the horn of the CB would slide back and forth between the strips, gently parting them as it passes through, and allowing them to close behind it. You could probably also do this with a piece of Dacron, which could be slit down the center with a razor knife to allow the horn of the CB to pass through.

[tom151]

Just finished a beautiful trip from Pt Judith, Rhode Island to Block Island, 8nm or so out.

. . . second, weight the board and use an uphaul that runs from low on trailing edge up through back of case to cockpit. The first option is more elegant, but also (I'm guessing) more trouble-prone: if downhaul gets off track it could jam the board; also it leaves an opening (though very small) in the cabin. The second would be simple to execute and has the helpful side effect of leaving no cb tackle passing through the cabin*, but leaves an uphaul line dragging in the water, and may cost some adjustability if I want the board lower and the weight is not enough to get it down--especially under press of sail. (I do like the positive control of cb angle I have now.) Either way, I will need to get at the cb sometimes, as I seem always to be jamming it with sand when I beach!

What do you-all think?

Jeff,

I've used uphaul/downhaul tackle inside the case, exiting the aft face of the c/b case, on a much larger centerboard (32' trimaran) and it worked flawlessly. I too wanted the positive control both up and down.

I wouldn't weight the board - the downhaul tackle works.

Used a few eyestraps to insure the control lines stayed where expected (along the top of the case)

Used 3:1 (maybe 4:1) downhaul (very bouyant board) and 2:1 uphaul -- though with the smaller scale of the CS20 block&tackle may not be needed.

Did make the c/b cover in two sections to make the tackle in the forward end more accessible in event of tangles - but never had any problem.

The exit holes at the rear of the case were sleeved with plastic hose in order to create slight friction so that the slack line wouldn't work it's way back into the case when hauling the other tackle during adjustment.

If any more info needed, just holler'

EDIT: I felt I needed eyebolts at the front of the case to handle the tension loads that the tackle exerts on those fasters - wouldn't use eyestraps there, even on a small boatlike the CS.

Loved sailing Point Judith area, and had a great adventure in the pond when I was there many moons ago,

TomH

Salem, Mass

[JeffM]

I was looking at the case again today, and thinking that a box might not obstuct seating as much as i'd thought. Then it occurred to me that the opening for the downhaul would probably still spit water. Which suddenly made me wonder if the right place for a flexible boot might be the BOTTOM of the trunk, so it keeps the trunk from scooping up so much water in the first place... Might help keep sand out, as well!

[wkisting]

I've heard of--but never seen--people epoxying a piece of Dacron to the hull, over the bottom of the CB slot. Then they slit it with a razor knife so the CB can still pass through. I think the purpose is to keep out sand, exactly as you suggested. Maybe someone else who has actually tried this will chime in, but apparently it is possible to do it with good results.

[brigait1]

A lot of small dinghies use centerboard gaskets to seal the opening at the bottom of the trunk. There is purpose made gasket material, like this;

http://www.westcoast...ult/85049.html.

You can also use heavy Dacron tape for this. Instead of just applying one strip and slitting it, you can apply a wide piece to either side of the slot and double it over on itself to create two, rounded edges that meet in the middle.

I'm considering doing this on my CS20. If I do, I will probably epoxy a strip of 3/8" plywood to either side of the slot so I can screw down a metal strip over the outside edge of the gasket material without screwing holes into the actual hull. The metal covering strip is how the gasket is mounted on my C15.

Good luck with it. Post pics when you decide on your solution.

Pete