Tom,
I rebuilt my centerboard last summer so I thought I'd weigh in on your
dilema.
The centerboard weighs about eighty pounds. There's a steel plate
embedded inside of it. If water intrudes--say, along the leading edge
where it might have banged on the trailer, then in theory, it could
swell up and cause your sticking problem. You might check the leading
edge and see if it has split open. Mine had, so I proceeded to refinish
it. Although, mine wasn't stuck, and in fact had plenty of slop.
I used two flatbed truck ratchet straps to lift my boat off the
trailer. I affixed them to two beams in my garage (wish I had taken
pictures). Not something I would want to do alone. Once the boat was
above the trailer, I used sawhorses and log rounds to stabilize it, and
for insurance should the straps give way. With my neighbor ready to
catch my centerboard, I undid the knot on the centerboard rope.
Unfortunately, my neighbor spaced out, and the board dropped to the
ground breaking the swivel point. Not a problem since I had so much
epoxy work to do anyway.
If you could find a sling hoist in your neighborhood, I'd see if I
could convince them to raise your boat long enough to extract your
board. I would think you could leverage it out with a crowbar. In my
area (washington) there's a hoist at our local marina. Costs $25 bucks
to launch. If they weren't busy, I'm sure I could convince them to give
me 10 minutes to get the board out.
Good luck with your project, sounds like you're having to do what I did
last spring. Which is to fix all the problems that had been neglected
over the years. I also had to fix two areas where the balsa core was
wet and rotten--under the mast step, and at the bow cleat. But, there
is satisfaction on the other end.
Be careful out there,
Bob Olson M-15 Sequel
On Nov 3, 2005, at 10:42 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Bob:
Thanks. I had not thought of that. The halyard is about a 3/8th dia
yacht line and fits very snuggly in its hole. I can't get the keel to
move at all. I tried jacking the boat up off the trailer but too
risky without proper equipment. Trailer is the original and keel
rests on the rollers. I agree that it may have been recovered at one
time and hit the first roller and punched the keel up into the recess.
That's one guess. Do you know how much the keel weighs? I was told
50 and 200 lbs. If it is light, I might take the halyard out
completely and then I will secure it to the keel (if I get it down).
You mention the trailer, I was wondering if I should reconfigure to
put rollers on either side of the keel so it essentially is not
resting on anything.
Have lots of cosmetic work to do on her but, so far, everything is
minor.
Where do you sail?
Tom
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