[Rhodes22-list] Center Board mishap

[Michael D. Weisner]

Your pics did not come through.Mikes/v Wind Lass '91Nissequogue, NY
-------- Original message --------From: Ric Stott <ric at stottarchitecture.com> Date: 5/25/20  12:12 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Center Board mishap HI folks It’s been awhile since promised to provide a “What not to do” story. Last September, I hauled the boat early because we had planned a last minute trip to see my son and family in Ireland. I hauled the boat on my own trailer for the first time.  I bought the tailor from a fellow Rhodie 5 or 6 years ago as a project, and finally got it done enough to use it. Prior to that, I had a commercial hauler come and pick up/deliver the boat from my driveway to the ramp about 2 miles away. So I asked a sailer friend of mine to help.  We got the boat onto the trailer and I was about to go through the mast lowering, when I decided the  boat was too far back and needed to be moved about 6 inches forward. The best way was to re-launch. Before we relaunched and when I was about to work on the jib furler, I asked Joe to release the ‘red’ line in the cockpit, meaning the jib furler line.  But the Center board line is also red, and that’s what he released.  We both got distracted at that point and decided to relaunch. When the boat came off the trailer, the old style (Blade)  CB was loose and rolled off the trailer into the full down position. The water at the ramp was not deep, so the CB hit the bottom with 3000 pounds of boat and added force of momentum.Although I didn’t know it, as the CB hit bottom, it easily poked through the CB cap, broke out the floor boards and damaged the cabin console, electrical panel and wiring.  The boat “sunk” immediately onto the trailer bunks and I couldn’t move it forward any further, but I still didn’t know why yet. When we pulled the boat out, water was pouring from underneath and the tires looked almost flat. (There was and extra 3000 pounds of water in the boat) I still didn’t know what was happening. I was curious where all the water was coming from and climbed into the boat to see.  Then my heart sunk too. The boat was still full of water over the floor boards. Everything below the galley shelf level was underwater, the slide out tray, tool box, parts boxes, spare parts, you name it. When we tried to crank the boat further onto the trailer after the relaunch, the winch pulled the Bow ring about 3/4” out from the bow.  This spring, when I finally crawled into the bow to inspect it,  I found two rusted steel nuts on the stainless bow ring. The mahogany block was rotted.  I tried for a few weeks spraying Marvil Mystery Oil on them every few days to no avail and then finally cut them off with a Dremel tool - pretty tight quarters up there for a big guy like me.  We left the  day after the bad haul, for Ireland and while away, my father-in-law went into the hospital, which began a chain of events that ended in his passing on March 12th. I never even thought to call the insurance company, I just thought of how I was going to fix it, knowing that most likely, nobody else could. "STAN TO THE RESCUE” at some point before the holidays, I contacted Stan, the man who held the secrete to my repair.  Indeed, he said, he could replace the Center Board Cap for me. I signed up for the ROC program, sent Stan a check and waited.  With some prodding, I received my newly molded CB cap some time in Early April with a nice email suggesting how to re-rig the control line straight from the trailing edge of the blade up through the thru-hull (which I had to install myself)  to the cleat.  I mocked this arrangement up and decided I did like the control line hanging below the trunk while underway.  So, I removed the SS turning post from the old cap, ordered new blocks for the trailing edge of the CB from England, and new micro-books for the inside top of the cap from Defender. With some careful milling, I got the new parts installed into the CAP and began to scratch my head about how to drill over 50 holes that line up with the old ones. CRANE: I had to remove the trailer from under the boat to work on the CB.  I had seen other systems, but needed a way to do it by myself.  I built the crane shown n the pics from 5/4 x 6 ACQ limber and a 4 x 8 beam I had by chance, and some 3/8” plywood for stiffness.  I used a 3 ton come-along. After the Bow ring repair, I connected it directly to the Bow ring, but when I removed the trailer I made a sling a couple of feet back from the bow. I can assemble and dis-assemble the crane single handed CB CAP Attachments: Stan suggested I epoxy the old holes and drill new ones.  I thought I could transfer the hole locations by laying the new cap on the trunk and marking holes with a short pencil or sharpie - that idea didn’t work. My second idea was to spray paint the holes one I had the cap clamped down - that didn’t work either - I would have sprayed everything but what I needed.  I finally made a template of the existing holes using some thick translucent paper, which worked beautifully. I taped the paper over the flanges of the trunk, poked the holes with an ice pick, the taped the same paper onto the cap and drilled the holes where the ice pic holes were. My ’84 original CB cap was screwed down with 3/16” sheet metal screws.  I think I could have re-used those as it never leaked and was easy to do, but the consensus is to use machine screws, so I drilled out all the holes to 1/4” and used the SS Bolts and lock nuts and washers that Stan supplied with the Cap.    I bought marine grade plywood to rebuild the floor boards and I had to replace the electrical panel for more than one reason. Covid isolation gave me the time I needed to do all this work.  I think the electrical work took the longest. So it's all back together and I’m almost ready to launch.  I’m confident that it will not leak and have the boat mostly put back together. I’ll let you know how it goes. Here are some pics of the whole process. I used the  Subaru, which I just turned in from my lease yesterday, to pull the boat out from under the oak tree, so that I can keep it clean and work on the new 'single handed mast raising system'.  I never used the Cross-trek to tow the Rhodes as it is only rated for 1500 lbs., but it probably could have been used to launch - only 2 miles away.  I’ll let you know how the SHMRS works. All-in-all, it was not an easy job, but not particularly hard either - just time consuming. Launch could be within days. Ric DadventureHampton Bays The new and the old cap together New blocks installed Clean up and Bilge Paint (Inspired by “DaList”)New Cap with New rigging added The Crane Richard Stott, AIA, LEED AP www.stottarchitecture.comOffice	631-283-1777Cell		516-965-3164 > On May 25, 2020, at 6:53 AM, Olivier Hecht <oehecht at gmail.com> wrote:> > Does anyone know the axle diameter on the Triad trailer?  I’m back home ~70> miles from my boat and trying to gather supplies to continue the> diamondboard removal/repair effort and also try to prevent future damage if> I ever get the boat too far forward on the trailer again. This picture is> what happened the first time the board fell onto the axle...I was amazed> how cleanly the axle cut into it.  Yesterday it got much worse as the board> started to split and also got caught on the cross-member when I refloated> the boat to try to reposition her in the trailer. I’m thinking of adding> one of these rollers using large u-bolts or maybe just some good padding as> a safety feature in case this happens again after I repair the board.> Thanks in advance.> > https://www.easternmarine.com/5-v-keel-amber-roller-bracket-assembly-86279-0> -------------- next part --------------> A non-text attachment was scrubbed...> Name: C323D8B0-7D7E-4D3D-9126-19D1F1F3912C.jpeg> Type: image/jpeg> Size: 2635797 bytes> Desc: not available> URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200525/66d77282/attachment.jpeg>