How to Shim the centerboard

Submitted by gcollinge on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 15:51
Hello, I need to shim my centerboard. Does anyone have any step by step instructions on performing this task? Any gotchas to be aware of? Thanks, Graham
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Comments

quote:[i]Originally posted by gcollinge[/i] [br]Hello, I ne

Submitted by JHS on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 17:26.
quote:
[i]Originally posted by gcollinge[/i] [br]Hello, I need to shim my centerboard. Does anyone have any step by step instructions on performing this task? Any gotchas to be aware of? Thanks, Graham
I just purchased an older FS and there is a print out that looks like it came from Flying Scot regarding this subject. I have looked on their website but don't see it. I am happy to send it to you as a PDF file if you e-mail me at Stan...@gmail.com "If the sea did wild or wicked things, it was because she could not help them." - Hemmingway

Contact FS and they can fax or mail it to you.

Submitted by FS5257 on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 12:20.
Contact FS and they can fax or mail it to you. On my Scot, I went with two strips of high quality outdoor carpet and adhered it with 5200. More forgiving, no grinding/glass work and three years later has not moved or deteriorated a bit.

JHS, i'm new at this could you give me more detail?

Submitted by blridge on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 18:03.
JHS, i'm new at this could you give me more detail?

quote:[i]Originally posted by blridge[/i] [br]JHS, i'm new at

Submitted by JHS on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 18:57.
quote:
[i]Originally posted by blridge[/i] [br]JHS, i'm new at this could you give me more detail?
Happy to. I scanned and e-mailed the instructions to Gcollinge and will be happy to e-mail them to you if that's what you mean. I assume he received them although I have not received a response to my e-mail to him. "If the sea did wild or wicked things, it was because she could not help them." - Hemmingway

That would be great blridge@hotmail.

Submitted by blridge on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 17:46.
That would be great blri...@hotmail.com

why are we shimming the centerboard? Does it rock back and forth

Submitted by Snbrdguy on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 13:59.
why are we shimming the centerboard? Does it rock back and forth in seas? FS 2099 Duluth, MN

quote:[i]Originally posted by Snbrdguy[/i] [br]why are we shimm

Submitted by fssaeditor on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 06:29.
quote:
[i]Originally posted by Snbrdguy[/i] [br]why are we shimming the centerboard? FS 2099 Duluth, MN
To avoid side-slipping you want the centerboard held straight down to the greatest extent possible: a major consideration if you race. The Scot was originally built with thick rubber centerboard gaskets, and the centerboard slot was considerably wider than the thickest, leaded part of the centerboard. As I understand it, the rubber gasket tended to hold the centerboard down straight. Rubber gaskets are history. Now the gaskets are made out of sailcloth material. Whatever benefit the rubber may have had is gone. Plus, the centerboard probably could be made more efficient by shimming anyway. The slop of an unshimmed board is very noticeable going down wind where the lack of side-to-side pressure gives the board free range to bump side-to-side. So, for years now, people have shimmed the centerboard slot in older boats to the point where the centerboard can still go up and down smoothly, but the side-to-side slop of the centerboard is minimized. This makes the centerboard as efficient as possible, especially going upwind. NB: Because the bottom, leaded section of the cb is thicker than the top part, you can only shim to the extent that the thicker part can be raised into the cb trunk. Flying Scot Inc. now builds centerboard slots to a dimension that eliminates the need to shim. I am not sure what year that started. Perhps someone can fill us in?? One caution... If you have a rubber gasket and replace it with a sailcloth, make sure to use the shorter screws available from Flying Scot Inc. FSSA Forum editor

quote:[i]Originally posted by n/a[/i] [br]Contact FS and they c

Submitted by fsnewbie on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 10:28.
quote:
[i]Originally posted by n/a[/i] [br]Contact FS and they can fax or mail it to you. On my Scot, I went with two strips of high quality outdoor carpet and adhered it with 5200. More forgiving, no grinding/glass work and three years later has not moved or deteriorated a bit.
Did you adhere it inside the CB trunk, under the gasket? Was the boat on its side when you did that? Any detail would be very helpful. FSNewbie

I shimmed the board on my boat recently based on all the instruc

Submitted by msman64 on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 10:03.
I shimmed the board on my boat recently based on all the instruction I could glean from this forum and Flying Scot. I slid the boat off the trailer onto a flat spot in the yard, rolled it on it's side (instructions also on this forum), did my best to level it horizontally by blocking the mast, and then extended the centerboard and blocked it too so boat and board where aligned as best as possible. I removed the screws from the forward half of the gasket and propped it out of the way. Following the instructions I masked the area with waxed paper and filled the front half of the the lower slot with West System 105/205/407. My advice here is to make the paste very, very thick. Mine was too thin and ran somewhat as it cured so I ended up having to grind parts of it down and do again. After curing a day I rolled the boat over and repeated on the other side. The end result was not very pretty (IMHO) but effective nonetheless. It was squeaky until we rubbed some wax in there. Good luck, I believe it really makes a difference in the boats performance, at least it no longer bangs back an fourth when sailing in chop. Mike FS 5010