Centerboard wedge plate

[tinafred]

My plates have 2 each size number 10 SS machine screws per side counter set into the plates. Also each has a no. 6 SS coarse wood screw in the middle of each plate. I looked inside with good visual of each machine screw end but these puppies are 2 inch long extending at least 1 3/4 in inside the chamber. I do not see a nut that would secure this machine screw, nothing but a built cone of what appears to fiberglass/epoxy I am guessing. My very drawn out question is what does the machine screw thread into to secure the threaded bolt to the hull?

[Alan]

1980 DSII: Two screws per plate (I haven't unscrewed them, so I don't know for a fact what the thread pattern is, but machine screws make loads of sense), and no screw in the middle. The wood screws might have been an afterthought from a previous owner.
Here are the centerboard plates that you can get from D&R Marine:

http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DR115

In my boat, anyway, the screws thread into the fiberglass, and there isn't a nut on the end.

[jeadstx]

Can't say for certain, but there might be a bronze plate in the like where the mainsheet attaches on the end of the centerboard trunk. I know I encountered plates in my centerboard trunk when I mounted my jib cam cleats there. Those centerboard plates may have something similar.

John

[TIM WEBB]

There is definitely a metal plate of some kind under the CB trunk mainsheet block mounting land, as my current fiddle block has different bolt spacing than the original, so I had to drill and tap new holes there. TRW has a CB pivot bolt, not the wedges/plates, so I don't know what's behind the wedge plates on the later models, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were backing plates embedded there as well.

[tinafred]

Look at the image from dr marine and you will see the small holes in the middle of each plate. That is where the #8 screw goes, it's from the factory, not an after market thought. I am not sure why the very small screw was placed there, but in every image I have found the small screws or their corresponding holes are there. The 1/4 -20 machine screw is into the hull and the small screw is into the wedge. Possibly holds the wedge in position, it could not be for extra strength. It will be much clearer when I learn to download my photos, as so many of ya'll have said, a picture is worth....

[jeadstx]

I put a copy of tinafred's wedge plates that he sent me on this post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5096

John

[badgley]

I know this is an old thread but I just redid the downhaul on my 1982 DSII CB this last weekend and one of the things I noticed on this forum is that there seems to be less information about the models that have the wedges rather than the through-bolt for the pivot. There is enough that I basically understood what I was getting into, but since I had the CB dropped and was doing it I thought I'd snap some pictures for posterity in case it helps anyone in the future. Rather than starting yet another post on this topic, this seems as good as place as any to link them for future searchers.

Basically, as has been described elsewhere, the downhaul feeds through a small hole in the edge of the board into a recess in the bottom forward corner, leveraged to bring that corner up forward of the pivot when hauled, thus lowering the aft (working) part of the board. The downhaul is fixed with a stopper knot set in some hardened but soft gray putty or epoxy - reminded me of Bondo. One thing I did notice is that it's only visible from the port side, at least on mine. From starboard there was only a small access hole (great for poking out the plug and knot from the other side, however).





Once removed, there are some chunky little fiberglass cheese wedges that pin the pivot up into the trunk without any throughhull fittings except for the SS screws.



My plates do not have the smaller screw holes, but the wedges were adhered in place with caulk. Both the putty and the caulk came out with some gentle digging and coaxing with a flathead screwdriver. I didn't understand bedding the wedges, since water is fine up there, until I reinstalled the whole contraption and realized there is too much play. So while the wedges don't have room to fall out they do wobble all over, so I need to drop them back out and stick them in with something. Life Calk or 4200 would probably be good so you can get them out again in the future...

I used 5/16" Sta-Set for the downhaul, per Rudy's recommendation, and it fits perfectly. I could not make a true figure eight stopper fit in that recess without sticking out (and potentially jamming between board and trunk) so I just did a simple overhand and fixed it with epoxy. I actually didn't re-bed it, however. It seems like there's no real reason too, as you can't push it out - the line will just flex and the friction of the exit hole keeps it in place - and there's no room for it to fall out. Conrad's book recommends epoxy but I only have MAS epoxy resin which would be way too permanent to ever remove this again... I plan to flip the boat to deal with the horrible bottom paint this winter (ugh...), at which point I'll be completely removing the whole board anyway. So I figure I can see how this works for the rest of this season and then deal with anything then. If I have problems I'll report back here.