Just purchased a used P19 ('95, #812)... daggerboard has a bit 'o rust on it
& binds a bit in places as it goes down the trunk into the water... so I'm
off with a couple of friends for a sail, the board hangs up but I let out a
bit of slack in the cables... step into the cabin to rock the board fore &
aft, to help it along its way down the slot... slack cable jumps the track on
the lower block (the one attached to the board), hangs up in the metal body of
the block... board also then stops "sticking" (of course) & drops 4-5", to
the bottom of the slack cable... which is hung up on the block... cable cuts
a 1/2" groove into the block body, & all but 2 of the cable's strands snap!
So now we have a cable that's probably not strong enough to winch the board
back up, and as we let out more slack to attempt to get the board down, the
groove in the block body deepens and continues to shred cable!
So we pulled into a nearby marina (under iron sail), got boat onto fixed keel
boat trailer, used a car jack to raise & support the board, then cut off the
shredded cable, fortunately had enough spare cable on the winch to run a full
replacement... but some of that spare cable had been at the bottom of the
wind on the winch & was "crushed".. so now plan to completely replace the
cable from winch to board... & also always will have parts on board to do
future emergency surgery at sea, if required!
Potterers, please recommend process/materials to rehab/refinish the rusting
dagger board? My hope/belief is that the rust is what is causing the binding
on the board and that getting rid of that will solve the problem... What say
ye?? Tnx
Ted
P19 #812
(as yet unamed!)