Centerboard mechanism - missing pawl?

[dcurle]

I have been trying to figure out why my DS1's centerboard will move up and down with the lever, but will not stay in the "up" position. When I bought the boat the lever was tied to a spot in the bow, so I suspected there was something wrong with the locking mechanism and so the lever had to be tied to keep the centerboard up.

Then this weekend we put the boat in the water for the first time. The lever mechanism works fine, centerboard moves up and down. However, I couldn't find a way to lock it in the up position.

Then I found this site, which gives a good picture of what the lever mechanism should look like:
http://www.bobhunkins.com/surprise/archive/000487.html

I realized that my boat is missing the pawl on the lever unit.

Here are some pics of my boat I took today.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidcurle ... 671417768/

From the pics, it looks like the pawl is just plain missing. I don't see any signs that it it broken off - it's just not there.

So the question is, should I be able to just buy a pawl like the one D&R has (http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DS110b) and install it? Has anyone else tried that?

At the same time I'd like to replace the rubber gasket as well.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

[jpclowes]

My pawl has a hole in it, and it just went over the bottom-forward screw. I would guess that a new one would be about the same, but I can't say for sure.

[seandwyer]

dcurle,

I can't say for sure either, but the center board handle (I believe) has always been the same and since yours seems to look like it is original I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work with a pawl, unless it no longer has the necessary notch. Take the triangular plate off and see if you have the mating notch that interacts with the pawl - if so, measure the space you have (when installed) between the plate and the screw hole where the pawl should go. Once you have a thickness, call D&R and ask how thick the pawl is - this should tell you if it will fit. I bought a new gasket and it wasn't too expensive. I can't imagine the pawl costing too much as long as you can buy it alone. I just tried to check, but it seems that the D&R site is down temporarily.

good luck!

[dcurle]

Yes, I think my CB lift is original. My theory is that it just was jammed hard and the the pawl broke completely off at some point.

The other question I forgot to ask is whether there is some spring mechanism that holds the pawl in the right position. But in looking at the pawl at D/R Mariine, it looks like maybe the bow end of it is weighted more heavily so that weigh might help keep the pawl in the right position when engaged.

I think I'm just going to order the pawl and the gasket and put it all back together. I do feel a little notch on the bottom of the handle piece that should be where the pawl engages, so I'm hoping that just adding the pawl will return my CB list to its original function.

[seandwyer]

Right - the pawl is held in place by the weight of the center board rather than a spring. I'm sure you can figure out where to drill the hole in the new pawl, but if you happen to be calling D&R, it might not be a bad idea to see if they can give you a measurement - or even mark the pawl with a center punch before shipping it to you. They probably can't as they may all be different, but it never hurts to have a good point of reference.

[kokko]

There should be a pawl, and it is connected by the forward screw. You can push the lever forward to engage the pawl. Ditto when you drop the CB, you push the lever forward a bit to isengage the pawl, then back to drop the cb. My pawl was loose in a bag of stuff when I bought the boat, but it was easy to install.