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jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
I am in the process of addressing a problem I am having where every time i beach (centerboard retracted) on a sandy beach, the centerboard becomes absolutely stuck in the retracted position due to sand between the board and the trunk. pulling boat into deeper water and literally standing in the boat tugging on or wiggling the thing will not free it. Back at home on the trailer, hosing it out does not free it. I have to get a block of wood into the trunk from the top and with aide of a hammer can I finallly knock it free. once free and flushed of sand, it drops freely when released.
I finally got sick of this, so I removed the center seat, the 4 side braces, and two floorboards in order to get to the centerboard pin. I then removed the centerboard and flipped the boat over. the fit seems ok, but perhaps not as smooth as it could be in the trunk, and perhaps a few millimeters narrower in the center, but with no sand there is no binding. neverthesless I spent the afternoon sanding the trunk with a plank wrapped in sandpaper, in some cases down to the bare wood. then I put a light coat of epoxy on the newly bare wood. once I finish varnishing and painting all the new work and putting it all together, I am still not 100% connvinced that I will have fixed the problem.
So, has anyone else experienced a similar problem on a CLC boat or similar? Any simple solutions?
6 replies:
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
Grumpy's right, you need some more clearance, enough for the sand not to clump and pack.
You are certainly on the right track sanding the inside of the trunk and the outside of the centerboard. The sandpaper-wrapped plank is ideal. It acts as a longboard and gives a fair surface without hollows to accumulate sand.
Another thing that I've done on my boats is to coat the inside of the trunk and the outside of the board with graphite/epoxy mix instead of varnish or paint. It makes the surfaces slipperier and helps keep the board from binding in the trunk when the angle is changed by the sand.
Good luck,
Laszlo
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
Laszlo, I like the idea of the graphite. It's too late for the trunk itself, but I think I will sand my centerboard down to bare wood (and then some, for good measure) then recoat with graphite impregnated epoxy. It my understanding correct that I don't need to do anything to protect the epoxy from UV, the graphite does that?
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
That is correct. The graphite provides the UV blocking.
I was able to retrofit the graphite/epoxy inside the trunk on one of my boats with a foam brush on a stick. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't visible, either :-)
Laszlo
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
UPDATE: I spent a bunch of time enlarging the slopt and sanding the centerboard back town to the bare wood, then covering the centerboard in two coats of epoxy mixed with graphite, as well as around the entry of the slot of the centerboard trunk from the bottom. Then put everything back together. Today I beached twice, and only once it it seem stuck for a moment, only to clear itself and work fine. So that is a long way of saying SUCCESS! Yay me. Next time I build a boat I will make entire centerboard trunk graphite empreganted epoxy. If nothing else, it gives UV protection in an area I would not want to paint....
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
Congratulations. It's great when a plan comes together, isn't it?
Laszlo
RE: jammed peapod centerboard every time I beach.
» Submitted by Grumpy - Sun, 6/18/23 » 9:34 PM
I have not had that problem. But doesn't it seem like there is not enough play between board and trunk?