Centerboard Work

[hriehl1]

The rubber gasket on my 1968 DS I is clearly frayed and I intend to buy and install another. Otherwise the centerboard seems to function fine.

While I have this somewhat disassembled to put on the new gasket... any other parts that should be routinely replaced? What should I be inspecting for possible looming trouble? Will this dis-assembly affect anything else?

I'm guessing the centerboard's central pivot will need to be extracted to place the new gasket... any tricks to supporting the CB from below?

Thanks for any advice you may have... I prefer to learn from the experiences of others.

[sunapeesailor]

Did this on my Daysailer a couple of years ago...very easy. Supported centerboard with a cross-beam on the trailer (not heavy) and installed new gasket. I lubricated the gasket with dielectric grease (essentially silicone suspended in light grease) and it has had no issues since. I used to get some minor leakage around the gasket at times--none since.
I had no appreciable wear to the pivot bolt or the square hole in the centerboard.
Fairwinds.

[Jett]

Bob's advice on replacing and sealing the centerboard gasket is tops! I replaced my centerboard gasket and learned the hard way (almost literally) that the roller on my trailer that my centerboard rests on wasn't exactly at the right spot to keep one end of the board from dropping to the floor. Lucky for me I had placed a blanket between the concrete garage floor and the bottom of the boat before crawling under the boat for a look, so there was only a minimal ding. Supporting the board is important, but I also think the support has to be carefully placed.

I didn't use grease when I replaced the gasket. I regret that now and will follow that advice too next time, because I get a small drip still, though it's much smaller than it was. For now I stick a sponge under the CB handle and so far it has soaked up the drips just fine. But I want to try the grease bit, because it sure sounds like that's a fix!