DaySailer.org Forum

I recently purchased a '73 Daysailer II (hull #6822) and have one issue that requires advice... the centerboard pennant/controls. After launching her for the first sail, the centerboard would not lower. There is a centerboard pennant (hold the board up line), made of stiff shroud material (1 x 19 wire) but it is quite contorted and bent. There is, however, no line/pennant for lowering and keeping the board down; although there is an opening (with small block) in the top of the centerboard trunk that appears to be for such a line. First, do Daysailers normally have both a "keep board up" line and a "keep board down" line? Second, is the attachment of the centerboard lines/pennants as shown in the accompanying photo standard? Third, I've made a quick drawing to show how I propose to install new centerboard control lines to solve the problem... would you anticipate any problems with the proposed scheme?
Thank you very much for taking the time to help a new DS sailor.
Dana Dahlquist

Dana, welcome to the forum.

I'll push your post to the "DSII Only" section, where we have all the other posts on the DSII centerboard installation. (Look around, you may find a lot of older discussions of this topic with diagrams and pictures).

Hopefully one of the DS2 owners will chime in with a comment; I'm not really qualified having sailed one for a few days but never owned one.

I do know that both lines are standard for a DS. This is because the CB is not weighted. For boats with a weighted CB, you may only need the uphaul.

Hi Dana,
I dealt with this a while ago. There are many different pictures if you look around this BB. I wound up with a block attached under top of cuddy with a 2:1 pulley.

I don't have a photo to post, but I ran line down to hole in bulk head and then aft. It's very similar to Tim Webb's gallery/image_page.php?album_id=100&image_id=2394&sk=t&sd=d&st=0
gallery/image_page.php?album_id=100&image_id=1568


Specific recommendations

1. A snap at top so you can detach it when not sailing. Makes crawling around the cuddy easier.
2. Rig a continuous line from down haul to up-haul looping through cockpit. Tidier.
3. Write up and down on bulkhead unless your memory better than mine.
4. BC I sail in shallow waters, I use a quick release cleat for downhaul and a clam cleat for up haul. I hear a scrape and then POP - up comes the cb. at least partially. Check this out : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YntnL6yUGqU
https://www.clamcleat.com/auto-release-racing-mini.html

Hi Dana, my setup is the same as the one that Tipster described and linked the photo. Do you already have an exit hole for the CB uphaul where you are proposing in your drawing? I can't remember if all DS IIs had them in the same place. My only concern about your diagram is whether you might have less leverage when the board is up than if the hole is all the way forward. In ours, I find that getting the board initially started from the up position is what takes the most work by far, so I wouldn't want any less leverage in that position than I already have.

I didn't want any more time to pass before saying "thanks very much" to GreenLake, Tipster1, and Badgley for your help. I think that I can now make significant improvements to my centerboard controls. This is a very helpful forum... thanks again.

Not to worry, hop you get it fixed soon so you can enyoy your Gray Bird.

Hello,

Got my CB reinstalled and boat launched. A little trouble lowering the board the first time, but after a friend went swimming it seemed satisfactory. Upon return I noticed that the round thingy (see below) on the cuddy side through which the cable goes was cracked. Also when we set out, the doubled-back end of the cable was jammed into said round thingy. I tried to pull it out but gave up. It must have cracked with the force of the CB being released back to the down position.

What do you call the round things that line the centerboard pendant through holes?
. . . circled yellow in this clip of one of Tim Webb's pics ... I assume that the ones in this photo are the same as the ones on the cuddy side.
And, can I buy them at a place like WestMarine or Defender (Waterford CT) or is this a special thing I should get from Rudy (D&R)?

Seems like this part is not essential but would definitely protect the bulkhead from banging and accompanying deterioration.

I would contact Rudy at DR Marine, and if he has the part, buy it there.

Otherwise, it's a matter of looking through hardware stores or online catalogs to find something equivalent. As you note, its there to prevent the bulkhead from sawing through the line.

PS: I wonder whether it's possible to adapt a "low friction ring" for the purpose

Thanks, GL. Rudy calls them "doughnuts" ... and says they could also be called bushings or fairleads.

Shaeffer no longer makes them. He says that WestMarine sells something called a half-inch plastic "through-hull" for $7 that will do the trick ... all I need to do is cut off the top.

Reading my DSII manual a little more carefully this morning, I see that Roger Conrad talks about replacing "donuts" with one-inch plumbing nipples in his section about Uphaul holes (pp85–87). The process involves threading the hole "with a one-inch steel pipe." ("Use an ABS nipple with a nut on the end.") He says that the swaged end of the cable will pass through this diameter without difficulty and facilitate future removal without having to remove the tang. Once installed, he says to "Add a brass plumbing cap to the nipple and allow the wire to run through a 1/8" hole drilled into the cap's center." Interesting. So maybe learning how to tap a thread is in my future . . . .

Luke writes: Re: More information about this fix for centerboard leak
Postby ldeikis » Sun May 31, 2015 5:57 pm

Also, instead of drilling a hole in the cap for the cable to pass through, I cut a slit in it by putting it in a vice and sawing to about midway across. This allows the cap to be installed or removed without removing swages or clamps from the cable.

Rudy also says I can try gluing my donut back together right on the cable, which I might try first since, having just launched, I'm not anxious to undo either end of the cable just now — the one to the tang on the CB, the other end around the becket (new vocab word -- see below) on the block. Then insert donut with some sort of adhesive and put lots of duct tape over the outside ring as a cushion to get me through the season. . . .

Becket is illustrated in this post I found 9/30/2019. Two other pages where this came from. Thread: New Guy with a Centerboard question

Nephroid wrote: I got the below pages courtesy of Rudy at D&R Marine. [...]

Oday CB Pg 3.png

Yep, there's a lot of terminology involved.

I don't own a DS2, although I've sailed on one for an extended period. I had always thought the the plumbing nipple solution applied to where the cable exits the CB trunk into the cuddy, not the fairleads/bushings that you picture here.

The issue with the former is that there can be water ingress along the cable both into the space between hull and cockpit (=bilge) or into the cuddy.

GreenLake, I agree with your assessment about the plumbing nipple being used to solve the centerboard hole leak issue. Specifically the uphaul hole on the forward edge of the CB trunk (inside the cuddy). I've recently read Roger's fix about a dozen times and plan to attempt the operation - although I'm still scratching my head about a few things he describes. I'll post my experience if I can get to the repair this weekend.

I purchased a 1974 DSII in June, coincidently a few boats younger than Roger's and a few months younger than me. It takes an incredible amount of force to raise the CB. So much that I fear the blocks on the cuddy floor are about to rip free. I think I'm observing separation inside the uphaul hole which could explain bilge leaks. The lift cable is also sawing into the hole's upper edge which should explain the difficult pull. Rodger's plumbing nipple fix should remedy both situations. The previous owner described seeing a tremendous amount of water in the bilge and water pouring into the cuddy from the CB uphaul hole. In his words, he sprayed a lot of foam in the bilge to deal with the issue and there's now plenty of positive flotation. Until yesterday, I had only examined inside the starboard bilge. The port side inspection hole (near the CB trunk) had been impossible to open. Now I know why...

The bilge is completely foam filled on the port side, at least 3-4 feet aft of the hole. I've already owned one foam boat (a 79 Sea Snark), didn't realize I now have another. Anyway after about an hour of chipping/cutting I was able to reach the CB bolt which needs to be replaced as well. Hopefully I can get all the CB controls working soon so I can finally go sailing.

Don't you just love simple "solutions" like duck tape, WD-40 and spray foam?

And not to forget 3M 5200 which makes it near impossible to remove anything glued with it. . .

Just to clarify, it was the donut on the cuddy side that broke. (The clamp on this end of the cable was jammed in there.) The photo I posted was really just to ask what you call the darn things.... (I didn't keep looking to get an image of the donut on the cuddy side.)

FYI -- a search on "doughnut" returns two hits, one of which is CB related. A search on "donut" returns 31 hits. (Before this post. )

Good to know about potential leakage through this hole into the bilge!

And ArchSail ... fun to remember the good old SeaSnark.

If there is one thing I've learned from forum posts, it is avoid the 3M 5200.

IslandFarmer, below is a pic I took this morning of my cuddy-side CB uphaul on the forward part of the CB trunk. I hope your situation looks better than this example. My doughnut thingy is gone and the wire line sawed nicely up into the inner hole. It is likely causing added friction when pulling it. No wonder I can barely lift the CB. The downhaul nylon line doesn't run through blocks and lies there like a wet noodle - probably needs attention too.



My next move is to apply the "plumbing nipple" fix Roger outlines in his DSII book and the one you quoted previously. There are a few steps that are unclear. He describes threading the forward hole but stopping short of entering the CB. The inner trunk hole appears to be much smaller (maybe 1/4 inch diameter) than the 1 inch forward hole so I assume the new inserted nipple will surround the smaller inner hole and stop there - basically pressed against the outside of the trunk. However, I'm skeptical this prevents the wire from doing additional damage or getting stuck in the slice it already carved. Maybe I need to repair that carved damage first. Originally, I thought Roger intended the nipple to run a continuous path through both holes while stopping short of entering the CB cavity. It seems one would need to enlarge the inner hole for that to work. I don't think he was aiming for that. I'll search around the forum to see if I can find folks addressing this specific issue.

ArchSail, The cuddy-side CB cable hole is undamaged on my boat (at least it was when I launched on Saturday) -- the donut having just broken. With no experience in this repair, I have no opinion to offer, but the below might help.

Luke (2015 post referenced above) had a different take on Roger's (DSII Manual) that you might want to check out. He definitely kept going past where Roger said to stop. And there might be some useful info in the other (2019) thread I mentioned posted by Nephroid which included Rudy's (D&R Marine) CB handout and two drawings.

Good luck.