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West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
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I thought that the list was probably about adequate (maybe needed a bit more
tape of one sort or another) and maybe it is for a P-19, but for P-15's you
left out a very important spare. . .the connection between the operating arm
and the centerboard.
Yesterday (clear sky afternoon, light to moderate breeze, good ebb out
toward Blake Island. . .fine day for a sail) I made it to the ramp with the
sails, the motor and the rudder (don't always), rigged up, paid my ramp fee
and did a final check around the boat before splashing. . .noticed
centerboard down about 5 inches aft, so jumped up into cabin to snug up the
cb tackle. . .but it was snug. Looked at that for a bit, crawled down under
the boat and wiggled the board. . .definitely down. . .back in the cabin,
wiggled the operating lever. . .mighty light. really light. I mean, like a
pound or two total. Picked it up and had a look. Not connected to the
centerboard at all anymore. Wow. Oh well. Unrigged, went home, fussed and
fiddled a while, finally ended up launching the boat onto the grass (easy
with breakback trailer) and fished the board (minus operating lever) out of
the slot while the boat lay on her side (ugly view I must say. . .hope I
never see her like that in the water. . .So. Mine is a 1981 P-15 with a
painted not galvanized centerboard. The operating lever was simply welded
onto the major bulk of the board. . .in a most unsatisfactory fashion. . .no
joint preparation at all, they just jammed the two pieces of plate together
and ran a low amperage bead of weld across the joint then (so help me)
actually ground a good part of the weld off to make the joint flat. There
was no fusion of the base metal beyond the very surface of the weld. Total
effective cross section of steel across the joint could only have been a few
square milimeters. . .and the joint had filled with rust, which probably
contributed to stress on the joint. Oh well. Could have been a great deal
worse and anyway, the durned thing needed scaling and painting (or maybe
I'll get it galvanized instead. . .we'll see). So anyway, add that to your
list. . .a spare connection between the centerboard and the operating lever.
Bubble gum maybe?
Obviously, no further report on self steering exercises this weekend. . .
Ken Preston
P-15 #1063, Bainbridge Is, WA
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 31 2000 - 03:27:12 PST