Problems with Centerboards?

[CSY Man]

Swore I would never have a centerboard boat again and have kept my promises to the Gods..

[biker6977]

CSY- what is the reason you will never have a C/B again? Please elaborate for a newbie. Having read the thread it seems most are in favor of C/B or at the very least not against- except you. What are the reasons?

[Scot McPherson]

Biker, everything is a trade off. Center boards allow you access to shallow waters, but they can be a maintenance nightmare. Especially if that maintenance is suddenly required while underway.

One solution to this is to use lee boards instead of center boards. I don't like lee boards, but they ARE a practical design. You see them more often on flat bottom boats with hard Chines where the chine digs in like a long keel when heeled over, and the lee board adds some lateral resistance while underway for better upwind movement.

Everything in a boat is a compromise. Shallow drafts are great for beach cruising, but heavy displacement deep drafts are much better and safer for making passages in blue water.

[CSY Man]

CSY- what is the reason you will never have a C/B again?

Too much work repairing and maintaining: On my first boat, a Bill Tripp Custom Bermuda 44, the sheeting in the centerboard slot had cracked open. Had to haul the boat, dig a deep ditch under the keel, fish out the old sheeting from the slot, remove the trunk from inside the cabin, lift the board using a home built a-frame (500 lbs). Build a fiber glass insert for the slot, etc, etc. 6 weeks of hard work, lots of expenses and when I finally had everything together and launched the boat, found a leak, and had to haul again and take things apart and re-sell. In all of this we were living on the boat at a yard in St. Thomas.
Have never missed the centerboard with other boats and never had a problem in shallow Bahamas because my next boat did NOT have a centerboard.
Some people like centerboards, and maybe I would have liked 'em to if they were maintenance free, but they are not.


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[Mystic38]

I have a Sabre 38 with K/CB and absolutely love it.

If i raced i would have a deep keel version but i dont race (on this boat).

Naysayers nothwithstanding, in reality the CB on this boat is used less that 3% of my sailing time over the last 7 years. It makes ~7 degrees of pointing difference (usually irrelevant) and makes the boat stiffer in stronger winds when the wind is forward of the beam.

So its hardly used down.. but when it is its needed, so any clunking in larger swells is irrelevant.. otoh, having a 4'3" draft for the ICW and Bahamas makes you simply smile.

[autumnbreeze27]

This is our first boat with a centerboard. When we had the bottom done we had the pin and sheeve replaced as well as the cable. I should have went dynema then.

When at anchor the board being down made a big difference in the stability of the boat, but it would bang. A low bass BOOM BOOM if there was a swell running in the anchorage. After the yard work that went away, but realistically we haven't been on the hook enough since doing that work to know definitively.

We draw 5'9" with the board up and 11' or so with it down. It makes a huge difference sailing to windward.