Mounting things to Centerboard Trunk

[JD11]

Has anyone mounted anything to the centerboard trunk? I have a 1984 Spindrift Daysailer One. I want to mount a sailboat accesory bag to the centerboard trunk. Basically is a big pouch with pockets, attached by four corners. There are plastic hook clips which would screw into the centerboard trunk.

Maybe someone else mounted sheet bags, or drink holders to the trunk?

I am wondering how thick the trunk is, so I know how shallow my screws have to be. It seems like towards the top of the trunk its not an issue, but down low close to the hull the wall looks like its not as thick.

thanks
j

[GreenLake]

Rather than screwing something into the trunk, why don't you glue something to it?

[JD11]

I thought of that. The accessory bag is attached with four hooks that are screwed into a bulkhead or whatever. It's not designed for Velcro or anything else and it's supposed to be removeable.

I thought about gluing backing blocks for the four corners and screwing into those but hoped someone had mounted directly to CB trunk before. That may be the way to go

[willyhays]

I think Greenlake has a great idea. You could epoxy blocks of wood or fiberglass directly to the centerboard trunk, eliminating the need to drill holes in or through the trunk. If you want to get fancy ptwatercraft.com sells carbon fiber glue-on eye straps.

[talbot]

But, yes, you can screw things to the centerboard trunk. Use really shallow screws, as the material is only about 1/8" thick. My thwarts are mounted to the CB on the inboard side. Because they had to hold a person's weight, I used both shallow screws and adhesive on the oak flanges that support them.

[GreenLake]

I have a fitting screwed to the top of the CB. Turns out the bolts go all the way across, but just barely below the top, so they are out of the way.


There are eyes that have a "base". Properly degreased it should be possible to glue them to the trunk and put a layer or two of fiberglass cloth over them as backup. Or, for light duty, make your own from a strip of stainless. You should be able to bend that to a very shallow profile, so they don't stick out, but also with flanges for gluing and laminating.

[K.C. Walker]

I have both glued blocks and screwed things to the centerboard trunk. My DS1 has the molded cap which is about ¼ inch thick. Screwing into fiberglass is tricky in that you need to get the whole sized exactly for the screw and tap it or you will break the screw. Drilling a slightly loose hole and using epoxy on the threaded portion works well, just wax your screw threads. On the thin portion of the centerboard trunk it's pretty easy just to glue a block which makes it much easier to use screws.

[kokko]

Try the 3M Command adhesive hooks and a pouch with grommets. The adhesive can be pulled off if you decide on another mounting system

[talbot]

I like the idea of a secondary mounting surface. I recall that during the frantic period between O'Day going out of business and Cape Cod Shipbuilding assuming production, one of the several intermediate Day Sailer builders (Precision?) put a wooden top on the CB trunk, which held all swivels for main and jib sheets.

A cautionary tale is to make sure the secondary mounting surface is well attached. During a local race, one of these Day Sailers had the entire console rip off the top of the trunk.

If you ever have the opportunity to work inside the trunk (like, if you flip, hoist, or careen the hull to replace or repair the centerboard), you could get in there with a long ratchet extension and through-bolt critical fittings to the thick laminate at the top of the trunk. That's how the skipper replaced the cap on the damaged DS.

[GreenLake]

mine is through bolted "below" the thick laminate, so I think I'm getting the full benefit.

[JD11]

I went with the advice of gluing a mounting surface to the CB. I chose a trip of pvc exterior trim 1/2 x1/2. It comes in a 8ft extrusion for about $8. I scuffed the glue side with sand paper and used some thickened West system epoxy. Rock solid. Now I can mount the bungee hooks for the sail accessory bag. The epoxy worked so well on the pvc I may use something similar to create rails for bunk boards for the cockpit.

[talbot]

Nice. I didn't realize epoxy would bind to PVC. Let us know how it works.

[JD11]

Works excellent. PVC is definitely the way to go. You don't have to paint it, and it needs no maintenance or paint. Although you can paint if you like. Can be worked with wood working tools. Its needs to be Epoxy resin, not polyester, so stick with West System.
Here's a photo of the bag installed:

[talbot]

Sweet! I'll have to think about how this would work on a DS II. (The part of the DS I trunk on which the line bag is attached is inside the bulkhead on the DSII.) I try to do no work on the boat between April 1-October 1 (our marina season), so I have five months of thinking, during which time, we'll know how the epoxy/PVC bond holds up over a season.