Hi All, First of all, I live vicariously through all of you and your group adventures. My family and I sail "Molly M" (#383, 1984 vintage) out of Brickyard Cove on the SF Bay. Would love to see some of you on the bay sometime. I am writing to "weigh-in" on the centerboard weights being bandied about. I have pulled Molly's CB and it was heavy, but I think it weighs about 175lbs. If it weighs 300...I'm a much stronger man than I thought. I ended up having the boat hauled off of the trailer and doing all my work in the yard. Quite expensive, but I had all the access I needed. Just so you know, 24" of clearance is plenty (I think you can get away with 19) My biggest mistake was that I decided to blast the CB and then coat it with multiple coats of epoxy before trying to refit....after trying to get it to fit for 6 hours and wondering if I was going mad, I ground the epoxy off, and what do you know...the tolerances are tighter than you think. A thin coat of epoxy and a thin coat of bottom paint are all I could put on the CB and still have it fit. Just a word of warning to all that plan a CB refit. Best to all of you. The Wisely's, Molly M M17 #383