I have owned a 1969 model Luger Leeward 16 daysailer since the early '80 and
have spent many very enjoyable summer (and mild winter days) sailing her.
(Yes, we can and do sail into December here in Eastern North Carolina.) But
years take their toll on both boats and owners.
What started out as a project to replace her rotted woodwork and repair a
small leak in the seam of her centerboard trunk has been put off for far too
long, but that's not the problem i have right now.
When I first got the notion to outfit her for shoal draft sailing (such as
is forced on us who sail this area) Luger Industries was still in business
and were kind enough to send me plans for a pop-up rudder, which has been
built and works quite nicely. However the person who built the boat put in
what i consider a non-standard centerboard. The board is pivoted about an
inch below the top of the trunk and when raised almost half of the board
extends above the top of the trunk. An open trunk like this makes for a
very wet ride when the boat gets up on her plane, which she does very easily
in a brisk breeze. Unfortunately when I asked Ruger about this i was told
that the original plans for the centerboard were no longer available.
I would like to pin the board at or below the waterline and make it narrow
enough to fit inside the trunk without any protrusion so i can cap the trunk
off but am rather shy about doing this for fear of losing her current fine
handling characteristics. I wish I could include some drawings to
illustrate what I mean but my scanner is down at the moment.
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? I would love to hear any and
all. You can reply to this news group or e-mail me at:
an...@nternet.net. I truly would appreciate hearing what you all think.
Thanks in advance. Andy
If you lower the centerboard trunk the centerboard will stick out underneath
the boat and be prone to damage plus making it harder to trailer. And... you
gotta mess with the swivel pin on the board...
I once had an 18ft Buccaneer. It had a rubber/ plastic gasket that attached
to the bottom of the boat and the centerboard slid through this gasket as
it was moved up & down. The gasket greatly reduced water sloshing through
the trunk.
I get the impression you have a wooden boat. Would it be possible to raise
the keel trunk enough to be able to cap it. Without destroying the look of
your boat.
How much hardware is attached to your keel trunk. Mainsheet cleats, Boom
vangs, ect...
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I don't care what the chart says, I can't be aground, there's water under
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Raggedy Andy <an...@nternet.net> wrote in article
<70894A459E2B65B2.59B481EF...@library-proxy.airnews.ne
t>...
>
>
> When I first got the notion to outfit her for shoal draft sailing (such
as
> is forced on us who sail this area) Luger Industries was still in
business
> and were kind enough to send me plans for a pop-up rudder, which has been
> built and works quite nicely. However the person who built the boat put
in
> what i consider a non-standard centerboard. The board is pivoted about
an
> inch below the top of the trunk and when raised almost half of the board
> extends above the top of the trunk. An open trunk like this makes for a
> very wet ride when the boat gets up on her plane, which she does very
easily
> in a brisk breeze. Unfortunately when I asked Ruger about this i was
told
> that the original plans for the centerboard were no longer available.
>
> I would like to pin the board at or below the waterline and make it
narrow
> enough to fit inside the trunk without any protrusion so i can cap the
trunk
> off but am rather shy about doing this for fear of losing her current
fine
> handling characteristics. I wish I could include some drawings to
> illustrate what I mean but my scanner is down at the moment.
> Thanks in advance. Andy
>
>
>
>
Actually the boat was a fiberglass kit. The wood I was referring to was
mainly a shell around the centerboard trunk, floorboards, and other
trimming. When the board was down there was a wooden insert with fitted
into the slot which I fitted with a dual direction jamb cleat for the jib
sheet and another jamb cleat for the main sheet. It also had that most
necessary of conviences on a boat, can holders. This insert kept out most of
the wash in deep water. When running in shoal water (2.5 to 3 ft) the
dragging centerboard would jostle this insert to the point where these items
became useless. When run hard aground the whole shebang had to be
disassembled.
Raising the trunk is out of the question. I guess I was hoping someone
would offer some advice on the shape of the new centerboard and how to
waterproof the new pivot hole.
Again, thanks for the input.
(I once had an old waterman on the Chesapeake tell me "son, if ya ain't
never been run aground, ya ain't never been sailin'"
Raggedy Andy <an...@nternet.net> wrote in article
<FC882F0814530E9A.9F1F1567...@library-proxy.airnews.ne
t>...
You could make yourself a 'stopwater' quite easily. These were quite
common in UK pre-war local designs of racing sailboats of 16-20' loa
which had castiron centreplates weighing upwards of 180 pounds and were
almost 1" thick. They also often came above the top of the trunk when
fully raised so you could not cap the trunk permanently. The
'stopwater' was a portable cap attached to a board which went down into
the trunk and effectively replaced the plate while it was in the fully
lowered position thereby not only eliminating water spraying up into the
boat, but also reducing inefficient turbulence which would otherwise
take place in the slot. For best efficiency the board should have its
bottom edge exactly at the bottom of the keel so no slot would be left,
although a shorter one than this would still keep the water fom spraying
up.
For racing purposes this was OK because to handle the stopwater was one
of the tasks of the crew who had to be really quick to yank it out so
the plate could be raised when rounding the windward buoy or especially
when needing to raise the plate quickly when one ran aground. The other
disadvantage is that it is a somewhat cumbersome item to have in the
boat when running with the plate up and rather a problem when sailing
singlehanded without a crew. But it would be easy for you to make one
to try out. Having rubber strips at the bottom of the slot is often
done for dinghies but if your plate is cast iron and very thick the
rubber will have to span such a wide slot (maybe 1" or more) that it may
not be stiff enough to keep the slot closed while you are planing and
will in any case be a major operation to fit and fair.
The stopwater does not have to be a solid board as the centre part does
nothing and can be cut away to some degree but you have to leave the
thing heavy enough to ensure that it stays down and does not float up.
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edgar-(remove nospam from return address for e-mail)