[Rhodes22-list] Center Board mishap

Tue May 26 00:36:05 EDT 2020

Wow what a story, and an informative narration. Thanks!
Chris Geankoplis
Enosis

On Mon, 25 May 2020 at 11:12, Ric Stott <ric at stottarchitecture.com> wrote:

> 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
> Dadventure
> Hampton 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.com
> Office  631-283-1777
> Cell            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
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