Andrei: I have an idea of your problem, but can you post a picture of it? One way to do that is to join a photo hosting site like photobucket.com and store your photo there then post a link to it here. I have some thoughts on how to make the repair, but it all hinges on where it's broke and some knowledge on how it was put together in the first place. It's doable by mere mortals. Howard On Sep 27, 2008, at 11:52 PM, Andrei Caldararu wrote:
Hello Monty sailors,
after sailing my M-17 today, when I tried to raise the centerboard a couple of times I lost hold of it and it dropped with a big "plunk". I didn't have the knot in the centerboard line which some people mentioned here, since I guess the previous owner never had it (stupid of me, obviously).
Anyway, when I pulled the boat out of the water afterwards I noticed that a piece of fiberglass about 1in x 1/2in which is the very rear bottom corner of the keel was almost completely broken off. I was able to take it off the boat, by just pulling lightly on it. It is the area behind and below the metal pin that I think is the stop for the centerboard. I assume that when the cb banged down on it a couple of times, the fiberglass around it cracked and broke. The actual metal pin stop is still in place, but the bottom half of it is now naked metal, and it feels rather wobbly.
How do I fix this? I have little to no experience with fiberglass and gelcoat, although I might be able to find either a shop who knows (but would charge me an arm and a leg), or learn somehow how to do it myself. Is this a delicate job that needs someone with experience, or can the job be described in an e-mail?
My first thought was to take some 5 minute epoxy and glue the piece I have back on, but I guess there's more professional ways of doing this.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrei.
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