Don't lose your centerboard (as posted on old forum)

As originally posted by Paul:

A word of warning for Sidewinder owners. There are a lot of centerboards at the bottom of many lakes out there. If the boat turtles, the board will almost definately fall out of the slot. If it is not secured strongly to the boat with a line it will sink to the bottom of the lake. Even if the boat capsizes there is a chance the board will fall out.

Make sure you have a line attached to the board and the boat!

When I bought my boat the previous owner made an L-shaped bracket that fits partially into the slot and is screwed to the aluminum running along the top of the centerboard slot. It works very well but you cannot take the board out of the slot unless you have a screwdriver handy.

As originally posted by Ron Katz:

Hi, I replaced the rope on my centerboard with a slightly longer peice then tie a knot at the end of it after passing it throught the cleat. This keeps it from passing back throught the cleat if the boat turtles.

My old sidewinder was disabled for a few decades after the boat turtled and the old pintle fell out, I wound up having to find a whole new boat because you cannot find parts for these old boats anymore. I drilled a hole through the bottom of my new pintle and put an o-ring through there, hopefully that will keep this from happening again.

Sorry to be so ignorant, but what is a pintle?

Paul
Webmaster: sailmfg.com

Paul, the pintle is the pin that holds the rudder to the gudgeon, and in turn the transom.

The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails.