Wood blocks between CB housing and cockpit floor (or not)

[hectoretc]

Greetings all,
It's both amazing and depressing that I can go work on my boat for 3-4 hours and come home with a dozen or so new challenges and issues to share with and query about to you all.

I think this is #3 or #4 tonight...
While dealing with (I think it was) trying to get one last piece of waterlogged flotation out that was jammed partway under the cockpit floor, I took advantage of the hole in my cuddy floor (different post/different day) to shove my iPhone down and snap off some pictures (better than a polaroid camera - That tells you how old I am). Anyway, I popped off a few panoramic pictures, found the errant styrofoam, but also found a piece of wood sitting where I wouldn't expect one to be. I extracted it, and it turned out to be maybe 1 x 1 x 12" piece of plywood or the functional equivalent of it. I stuck my iPhone back down and snapped a full 360 degrees of pictures and found this shot relevant.


This picture is the front of the centerboard housing where it attaches to the cockpit floor. There is a horizontal flange (this is all fiberglass) in the center upper third of the picture. On the right, (on top of the flange) you'll see the end of a piece of 1 x 1 plywood. On the left you'll see that one is missing (that's the one in my hand). Turns out the one on the right in the photo (port side) is loose enough I could pull it out very easily as well.
Should this strike terror in the heart of a DSII sailor? Should I cut some new fresh pieces and glue them back in that slot?
Any thoughts or opinions are welcome... Thanks,

[Alan]

I looked at the same area from the aft side by holding a small mirror inside the cockpit floor inspection ports and shining a flashlight on it.

I've got the same flange, and no plywood. The flange looks like an extension of a horizontal support flange that runs along the length of the centerboard trunk. It's apparently part of the hull molding that's intended to support the cockpit molding at the centerboard trunk.

The cuddy floor, part of the hull molding, is slightly higher than the cockpit floor, which is the reason for the gap - the horizontal support flange just continues in a straight line, rather than rising to meet the cuddy floor.

I do have some cracks in the cuddy floor right at the forward corners of the centerboard trunk (directly above the gap), so maybe that's the reason for the plywood.

I've also got a 62-pound battery on each side of the centerboard trunk, on the cuddy floor just inside the cuddy, so maybe that accounts for the cracks.

Sooner or later I'll find the time and nerve to cut into the cuddy floor to lower the batteries.

[hectoretc]

Thanks Alan,
Your comment about the mirror through the access port reminded me of something I'd meant to check and forgot all about. I had purchased Roger Conrad's DS II book almost my first week on this board, and I know he'd done a camera tour of the internals of the DSII. Your comment reminded me to flip through the book and on page 82 is a clearer but very similar photo to mine, clearly showing no wood in his CB assembly either.

Case closed.... Thanks alot for the information and the inadvertent reminder.