M34 c/b tube can get bent everytime (if ever) one runs aground?

[christopherperagine]

A few months ago I joined to ask this - and still do not know if this a real anomoly or not.
My haulout here in Seattle is 22 May when I will drop the bronze board - I hope to somehow improve the arrangement because it now seems that if the board gets bounced into the trunk while in the board-down position it will somehow get clobberred and bent - making it inoperable.
As I related earlier, the bent tube twisted the cutlass bearing hose off and nearly sank the boat
And what a difference the board makes going upwind and even in manueverablity under power.
Help!
cP

[charleymorgan8]

Sorry CP,
I have been out-o-pocket for a bit so couldn't get to your problem till now.

I have heard of this situation a couple of times over the years and this is the solution I know one or two owners have used in areas with large tideal differences and it was more likely be a problem if one forgot to bring the board all the way up.

The metnod utilized a strong shock cord to retract the piston or tube if the load was relieved on touching the bottom. Of course it would be good to use teflon grease on the piston and teflon packing in the gland.

I am not familiar with the method of attatching the shock cord to the piston but it led from the piston forward to the mast step or further forward.

I hope this is helpful to you and let me know if I may be of further help.

Cheers and smooth sailing, ~ Charley Morgan

[christopherperagine]

Dear Mr. Morgan,

Wow......You were a hero for Gulf Coast sailors as I grew up sailing in New Orleans with John Dane and Buddy Friedrichs and working as a college student doing rigging at NewOrleansMarine.

For the past 25 years I've been living in Seattle and sailing a dear Shaw24yawl that I sailed up the West Coast from San Diego to go to Graduate School in Architecture at the University of Washington.
Now with the chilren finishing college I have finally traded up - having
2 years ago found a M34 for sale in Portland - black topsides, real mahogany interior and a Perkins diesel - brought her down the Columbia River and up the coast and into Puget Sound.

Such alovely boat - when I was 12 I was in Biloxi and stepped aboard the newly launched M34 "Quartet" - classic transom, overhangs and sheer - yet "doomed "it seems by the then just-arriving fin keel and spade rudder. Yet having cut my teeth in Luders16 and an 8metre sloop I do so very much prefer the feel of a boat that is _in_ rather than just atop water.

However, this centerboard situation is a real Achilles heel.
From the Shaw24 I know how the bounce of the board was a great convenience when gunkholing.
Is there a way to get a diagram or drawing of how this system works ??!! - Perhaps my cables are misinstalled thus allowing the tube to be too fully exposed to the "well" and thus vulnerable to a whallop from a sudden self-rising board?
I thought the tube mediated between cables and so _had_ to be where it was - and so I do not get how the shock cord that you mentioned could pull the rod forward and not be directly affecting the board - oh! - I just reread yr message - now I see - as the wire gets unloaded by a self-rising board the cord draws the rod forward.......hahmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh - I sure hope that there are some more alternatives .

Sir - could we "carboncopy" this out the larger List?

Thank you for your consideration and for designing such a lovely boat.

IRemain&c.,
cP

[bobcarter24]

Hi cP;
Go to this web site, Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums & communities and join the Morgan group list. Post your question. Many M34 owners. I have a 1967 M34 with the bronze board. Should be same set up as yours. I have some diagrams from the M34 manual and some links to mods some people have made. I did the Dave Doolin mod. I can email you the diagrams. I 'll have to wait til tonite but I'll look over the diagrams and try to see how you bent your tube. Anyways join the yahoo list. Sailnet also has a list too. Sometime they seem like a Morgan Out Island list but there is a lot of other Morgan owners who read it and just hang out in the background unless something comes up on their boat.
Bob
M34 Hakuna Matata

[christopherperagine]

Dear Bob,
Thanks!!!
I'm out of town
visiting my hometown - new orleans -aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh......
Will re-contact yawl by next weekend.
cP