Centerboard cable

[JSailer]

Hello,
I am eager to get some opinions regarding this issue...
I have an O'Day 30 with a retractable centerboard that pivot inside the keel trunk.
It seems very hard to prevent corrosion and obvious failure where the cable attaches to the CB.
I put a new one in about a year ago and last time I checked underwater (June) there was already some corrosion on the fitting and the pin coming out of the CB.
So, my question is...
What do we have to go with cables?
Would, let say, a 1.4 inch nylon line not work just fine and last a lot longer?
(I say 1.4 inch because it would fit through the whole tube/block/etc. to the cabin top).
The only possible downside I can think of would be the line possibly getting chaffed over time around barnacles (if there were any) inside the keel trunk.
Anyone has any experience with this?

Thanks!

[meboater]

I have some experience- 5 years with a Tanzer 22, including a CB removal/installation.

Many stock cables go 20 years or more. It seems that duplicating what was done at the factory is the best bet.

OTOH, if you had a reaonably easy attachment point on the CB, fixing it in the water would be pretty easy, and maintaining it would be like any other rope.

Maybe some very low stretch, high strength line.

[meteuz]

How heavy is the centerboard? I have a Precision 18 where the centerboard is controlled by a simple double braid line, but it weighs something like 50lb. If yours is more like a swing keel, a stainless wire is probably the only choice.

[mstern]

I am unfamiliar with the centerboard arrangement on the Oday 30. Is it a single line lead to the cockpit? No cranks or mechanical devices? If so, then I strongly suggest upgrading from a steel cable to a low stretch line like Sta-set. Back in the day, Oday (and every one else) had to use cable and cable/line splices for these things because lines would stretch under load. With low cost no-to little stretch line available now, there is no need to use steel underwater (like for centerboard pendents) or where the line requires handling (like halyards). I use sta-set for my centerboard pendent, and it lasts longer than the shackle fitting.

[JSailer]

Originally Posted by meteuz

How heavy is the centerboard? I have a Precision 18 where the centerboard is controlled by a simple double braid line, but it weighs something like 50lb. If yours is more like a swing keel, a stainless wire is probably the only choice.

I would think between 50 and 80 lbs.
It is not a straight up and down CB. It pivots around a large pin (1 to 2 inch) that slides up a track as the CB goes down, and back down as the CB goes up (does that make sense?).

[JSailer]

Originally Posted by mstern

I am unfamiliar with the centerboard arrangement on the Oday 30. Is it a single line lead to the cockpit? No cranks or mechanical devices? If so, then I strongly suggest upgrading from a steel cable to a low stretch line like Sta-set. Back in the day, Oday (and every one else) had to use cable and cable/line splices for these things because lines would stretch under load. With low cost no-to little stretch line available now, there is no need to use steel underwater (like for centerboard pendents) or where the line requires handling (like halyards). I use sta-set for my centerboard pendent, and it lasts longer than the shackle fitting.

Yes, single line to the cockpit. The cable goes up through the cabin in a pipe, comes out of the cabin top and makes a 90 degree turn outboard through a block, then another 90 degree through another block toward the cockpit and ends at a cleat at the aft end of the cabin top.

What do you use to attach the line to your CB?
A knot or an eye splice?

[WDS123]

Technical Lanolin


Lanolin might help

[merc2dogs]

WDS, I thought I was the only one who used lanolin

On my old trailer sailor, the fastening point for the cable was worn/rotted so it was elongated with maybe 3/8th inch solid iron between it and the edge. I had a friend come over and weld the hole closed, re-drilled it slightly over sized, then used a pair of nylon(?) flange bushing in the hole that were a snug fit for the shackle pin. There was no metal to metal contact anywhere from the cable, it was metal to plastic to metal. I bought two sets of bushings, and checked them every year before first launch, but never saw any wear.

The bushings were made and sold as a replacement for sintered bronze 'self lubing/oilite' bushings, and were supposed to be just as durable, advertising seems to have been correct

[TQA]

Hope you don't mind my hijack,

I have a 44 footer with a swing keel that extends my draft from 5'6" to 9' 6"

The keel weighs about 300 lbs Swings on a pivot and is held up by a wire cable wich runs through a tube to the deck round a pulley to a halyard winch mounted on the deck.

The load on this cable is significant due to the configuration of the cable attachment being about 18 inches away from the pivot.

I know I should have replaced the cable on my last haul but had other priiorities and on first inspection thought the cable was OK and would do another year but on refitting it on the day before my splash I noted two or three broken strands where I formed it round the eye.

The current cable is 7 x 19 stainless. My question is should I replace it with the same? the last one did at least 7 years.

But the books say use galvenised wire.

Or would one of these new types of rope be better.

[delan]

I have a 44 with a swingkeel, we swaged a stainless cable right onto the keel five years ago, no signs of wear or corrosion yet