Last week, in preparation for Kimosabi's winter in saltwater, I removed the centerboard. That wasn't an easy process as whoever had worked on the board last must have used about a gallon of silicone to seal the centerboard trunk cap... After spending a few hours to get it off, I was able to easily remove the board. I discovered that the previous work done on the centerboard limited the amount of downhaul because the downhaul turning block was placed too high on the board. This prevented the centerboard from being lowered completely. After cleaning the centerboard box and applying a coat of Vivid bottom paint, I sanded and completely bottom painted the centerboard using Teflon based VC17 on the top portion of the board. I then re-primed and painted the centerboard cap. New smaller diameter downhaul and uphaul lines and a new Starboard exit plate were also installed. I used closed cell foam gasket material to seal the board. While I was at it, I also made and replaced the compression pads on the forward beams. The boat is now ready to head south.
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| The green area shows that portion of board that could not be drawn down |
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| The misplaced Downhaul block |
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| Board after Application of Vivid and VC17 |
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| New uphaul and downhaul lines installed. |
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| Closed-cell foam gasket |
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| Cap re-installed after re-painting |
