STUCK CENTERPLATE

[CADMAN]

Yesterday I went aground in fairly soft mud. My own fault ,I just wasnt keeping an eye on the depth. We were under outboard power assisted by the jib in fairly light wind when the first impact came and the rudder kicked up. I cant remember whether or not the centerplate was down but ever since then the plate seems to be siezed. I'm not even sure whether its siezed up or down because the pull rope will not move in or out of the slot in the cockpit.
My concern is obviously that I might have bent the centerplate so that it jams in its housing.
I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to free the plate without getting the boat craned out. One idea i have is to disconnect the upper part of the pull chord tube inside the cabin to allow access to the lower part of the tube. It may then be possible to poke a length of 1/4" dia brass rod down untill it presses on the centerplate. Some sharp blows with a hammer may then free it (assuming that it is stuck up).
failing that I cant see any way of getting to the plate other than lifting the boat and somehow getting a grip on the plate to pull it down.
If anybody else has had a similar experiance or has some better suggestions for how to deal with it I will be very obliged if they could point the way for me.

[skip1930]

Well I checked your other posts to see what kind of Com-Pac we were talking about.
It appears that you have one of those rare 16 footers with a center board. Cool! Are you in salt water or fresh?

In order to poke the centerboard down through the trunk the brass rod idea sounds OK. Pick something larger in dia then 1/4". You'll have to do this in water deep enough to allow the board to drop out of the keel. But do what you gotta do.

Any nice soft sand beaches on a dead flat no wind day? Assume the plate is up...Run her sideways up on the beach and pull the hull over with the halyard tugging from the top-o-mast. Tie her down when tilted over. The leverage to do this will be favorable. Then you could look up into the slot and finger out the problem.

Just a thought. No trailer? Jack her up on the hull bunks of the trailer.

skip.

[Glenn Basore]

Can you tell by the amount of line you have showing ?

On my boat, with the center board down I have just a little line showing, when up I have a lot of line.


May be some one else with the same boat could measure their line in the center board up position and this would give you an idea based upon what their length of line is.

Glenn B.

[CADMAN]

Thanks Skip and Glenn,
My boat is a 1997 CP16 'RAVEN'-- the one with the small aluminium bowsprit. Its probably the only one in the UK
The brass rod cant be much bigger than 1/4" because the tube containing the centerplate rope seems to be about 3/8" bore. I'm not sure one can squeeze a 1/4" rod down as well as the rope. There is quite a lot of rope showing which suggests that the centerplate is up.
I like Skips suggestion of rolling her over on a sandy beach but before I do that I think I will get my boatyard to lift her on their Iron Fairy Crane. This would normally cost an arm and a leg but I think I can strike a deal foor about 30mins lift for £30. I will then get them to drop her onto my trailer which I have just modified by replacing the rollers with planks. The modified trailer has never been tried so a gentle trial fitting on the end of a crane might be a wise precaution.
I'll let you know how I get on!

[CADMAN]

My stuck Centreplate was caused by small pebbles jammed between the plate and its case. After lifting the CP16 RAVEN with the yards crane it was quite easy to prise the pebbles out with a long screwdriver: the plate then came down like a Guillotine. Ive taken a few photos showing details of the centreplate that might be of general interest. Note that my centreplate had three holes along its bottom edge and the hoist rope was attached to the middle one. When fully down the plate could swing quite easily like a pendulum. I imagine that it would partially retract when sailing under the influance of hydrodynamic drag.
/img]

[CADMAN]

Sorry Skip  but I just cant get my photos in Photobucket to Copy.
When I click on a photo in Photobucket I get a drop down menu with from memory four items, each item having a little box with what looks like a label or Code. These items wont select with the mouse so they cant be copied and pasted. I have tried reading them with a magnifying glass off the screen and them typing them into the location you describe in my message but still nothing happens. Also i'm not sure which of the items on the drop down menu is the one with the DIRECT CODE that you describe.None of them are identified as DIRECT CODE as you describe.
If I can test your paciance a little bit more could you please clarify how you get the DIRECT CODE that you describe and transfer it to your post. Ill then have another go
Regards, Barrie

[Salty19]

Cadman,

There are a few of doing it.

The easiest by far is not using the direct code. Use the "image" code.  In photobucket with the picture open, you'll see a box on the right that will say Direct Link, html code and image code.

Just click on the image code box, the URL will be copied.  Then paste into a post. Done.

[CADMAN]

Here is another attempt at posting a photo using Salty and Skips advice. The photo shows a close up of my 1997 CP16 RAVEN hanging from the dockside crane. The Centreplate was jammed into the closed position by pebbles jammed between the plate and its case. I must have picked these up when I went aground in soft mud.

][/img]

The plate has three 1/4" dia holes along the bottom edge and the hoist rope is attached to the centre hole. It is not obvious what the other holes are needed for but perhaps they were used in toolig for routing the curved edge of the plate. Alternatively I note that in the down position there is nothing ,other than the weight of the plate, to hold it in position. It was very easy to displace the plate and it would swing like a pendulum. I can well imagine that it swings when sailing under the influnce of pressure and inertia changes

][/img]