Dinghy query #2, or is it #9?: Centreboard, loose in its case

EuanMcKenzie said:
your new pride and joy...must be modern if its GRP
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Surely you jest? I've read that an Osprey built in 1973 was number 940...and mine is number 937, so I guess it's her 40th birthday this year. All GRP.

Virtual fluorescence might be handy, if dismasted & stranded far from land...but until I'm caught by disaster, I'd prefer decks that don't shriek with individuality.

Any idea what year your yellow woodie was built?

I had a glance at the Osprey cruising forum...but I got the feeling it mainly means 'not racing'. P'raps I should post a photo of myself, trapezing whilst stirring pasta with a five-foot spatula, and a couple of buddies with beers and guitars, playing while trimming spinnaker sheets. Note to self: must learn trapezing.

I'm having trouble adding photos...they're fine for half a day, after which the system loses the picture and just says "attachment *******".
 
dancrane said:
More relevantly perhaps, I was surprised that the boom doesn't 'lock' on to the gooseneck...is it only held in place by tension from the vang/outhaul?
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Those of us who are not quite on the ball with regard to remembering to tension the kicker sometimes find that the boom does slip off the gooseneck. Usually when it's bloody windy and it's almost impossible to re-fit if single-handed.
I took to attaching a loop of line around the mast to the tack-eye so that the boom couldn't slide back at an awkward moment.
 
EuanMcKenzie said:
...when i had it it had been converted to a mark 3 by removal of the rear tank.
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I haven't worked out whether the rear tank is a benefit or an irritation...

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...but so much of my cockpit's rear bulkhead is missing, I wonder if someone got halfway though making the switch to a Mk3, then stopped. I suppose the rear deck is vital for the hull's stiffness? I wonder how that structural rigidity is recovered when the sidedecks run all the way back to the transom?
 
I don't think the rear deck has significant affect on the hull stiffness. I had two ospreys, the second was a mark two woody that still had the rear deck and it was open to allow water to flow through and out through the transom flaps in the event of a capsize. The transom on a mark three is stiff and I'm sure with the buoyancy tanks puts plenty of stiffness into the rear of the hull. Bear in mind that there are no rig loads and the rig / centre board load spreading happens further forward in the hull.

That said, i wouldn't go to the hassle of removing the rear deck for a cruising Osprey - just go sailing and enjoy yourself.
 
dancrane said:
Note to self: must learn trapezing.
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Dead easy just keep your front leg straighter than back, or you will become quickly acquainted with the for-stay... Or even vanish round it :o


EuanMcKenzie said:
just go sailing and enjoy yourself.
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Alass some one talking sense I have a golden rule with boats the first year you buy it you do nothing to it... Except sail, only then will you know what you really want...
 
EuanMcKenzie said:
I wouldn't go to the hassle of removing the rear deck for a cruising Osprey - just go sailing and enjoy yourself.
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onesea said:
...I have a golden rule with boats: the first year you buy it you do nothing to it... Except sail, only then will you know what you really want...
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I can see that's good sense. It's only a variety of small matters which look like they'll need attending to, to prevent my first sail in her, being cut very short.

Mainly I want to be sure that the hull is sound, and that anything which moves, isn't at the point of wearing out...but of course, the danger of cleaning up anything on a forty-year-old boat, is that you make a clean (or well-maintained) spot, which draws attention to the rest... :rolleyes:
 
Finally put the Osprey on her launching trolley today, which makes her feel much lighter and more accessible than up on that hellishly heavy, nearly-immovable trailer.

On the trolley, I sense she'll be no trouble to launch and recover, even singlehanded...and she rolled easily onto her gunwale without any problem. The centreboard came out easily, revealing that it's about 20mm thick at most, and the pivot-point is thickened by compact discs, one on each side, held in place with insulating tape! Is that normal?

Sadly, the board's lovely timber colour mustn't have suited a previous owner's bizarre taste, so it too is besmirched with the decks' green paint. Not for long!

Picture includes a 75cl wine bottle for scale...is there any dinghy with a bigger, deeper centreboard? (64" x 19"):

View attachment 30542

Stupidly, I didn't trouble to peer into the slot, to see whether the sides of the case at the pivot-point would benefit from further 'packing' either side, to prevent the board rattling about in there.

I wonder if the pivot-point would better resist wear, with a 20mm-long section of plastic pipe inserted to keep the timber from the abrasive thread of the bolt?

I'm keen to prevent chipping of the timber, so I'll probably epoxy the leading edge...

...but thanks to all the chaps who said I ought to just get sailing. Hauling up the genoa today, I felt very close to doing so, but I must get buoyancy aids and a trapeze harness. And a force 2, 20ºc, ideally...

On the road-trailer, the boat had begun to feel like a terrible unmovable weight, and her many scratches and shortcomings seemed like a long season of excuses to delay launching. On the trolley she feels managable, ready and willing to go, as if even the most urgent issues can be resolved between days afloat.

View attachment 30545

(Does anybody know why my photos only stay in view here for about 24 hours, after which they're reduced to the phrase "attachment *** "?)
 
Good for you, Dan!
One thing I would say is that the centreboard bolt ought to have threads only on the end- it should have a smooth shank where it passes through the hull and board itself. Should be relatively easy to find an appropriate spec stainless bolt, but you'll probably need the use of a pair of calipers.
 
If it is sheathed then it is a very good job! Difficult to get it neat at the edges so usually there is an overlap. You can often see the weave of the cloth when it is bright finished. Have a look in the bolt hole - you should be able to see the edge of the sheathing there. Instinct tells me it is not, but it may be epoxy coated and then varnished with a 2 pack UV resistant finish.
 
Tranona said:
If it is sheathed then it is a very good job! Instinct tells me it is not...
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Examination strongly suggests you are right. I'm disturbed to infer that the seller readily, contentedly departed from accuracy, when it came to selling...

...I also removed the CDs from around the bolt-hole...Christmas Hits 2001...:eek: Something tells me the same guy painted her in lurid green, and took a jigsaw to the aft cockpit bulkhead!

None of which are irrecoverable flaws for the boat, thankfully!

Lakey...my reluctance to launch will only last as long as the hypothermic influence of recent easterly winds.

As far as the trapeze harness goes, I feel it'll be a basic requirement...the first trip with SWMBO may be her last, and I suspect even if I'm on the helm, she'll be disinclined to hang over the side, relying upon my experience (:o) to keep her out of the six-celsius water! So, I'll be obliged to multi-task, Contender-style...and possibly that's what I hoped for all along, with the enjoyable additional complexity and terror of extra sails and power.
 
Hmmm, how about rigging up a basic reefing system instead? Or just waiting for a very gentle day?
I've never sailed an Osprey but the concept of a boat that cannot be sailed safely without use of a trapeze does not sound terribly practical!
Surely you can sail conservatively and keep the boat flat without having to trapeze?
 
It can. Whilst I was a member (for a short while) at Coniston, a racer took some friends out one by one for a sail in his brand new Osprey. No trapezes in evidence. Just a nice gentle sail.
An elderly lady did whack her head on the boom, so maybe that's more of a priority.
 
Mavanier said:
Surely you can sail conservatively and keep the boat flat without having to trapeze?
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Probably, yes; although a reefing option (or acquiring a teensy mainsail from something like a Gull) is high on my list for really brisk weather...

...I'm only twelve stone and I ought to be eleven...but in the days before trapezes, Ospreys were raced with a three-man crew...

...so since I'm not a racer, I'm glad to enjoy the Osp's willing performance in light airs, and I'm entirely ready to back off rapidly when it gets gusty. But every dinghy I've sailed which didn't have a trapeze seemed to me to miss its benefit, and I'd feel daft sailing a trapeze-boat without using it, just for want of a harness.

Plus, until I have thoroughly got to grips with tuning the big mainsail for a breeze, I know I'll be dismal at keeping her flat!
 
Hey, if all else fails you can always just dump the sheet...

I'm not saying you shouldn't rig the boat for a trapeze. Just surprised that you would put that in the way of getting her in the water.
 
Lakesailor said:
Dan seems reluctant..........:)
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Mavanier said:
I'm not saying you shouldn't rig the boat for a trapeze. Just surprised that you would put that in the way of getting her in the water.
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Rotters! :eek: Or, do you jest? :rolleyes: Very probably I'm just less tough than you gents. To me, it's all a matter of wind and temperature...it's easily been hard enough to blow me down lately, and cold enough to then make me wish I'd stayed ashore.

Plus, however lightweight I am for the Osprey, my old wetsuit is a bit slimmer than I am myself...so now, early in one of the coldest Aprils for years, I think it would be bad timing to hurriedly restart my sailing in a challenging design, with inadequate clothing and less than the basic kit to keep the boat upright! :D

I'm plenty keen enough, or I wouldn't finally have turned my extended armchair-commentary into what will be such an active involvement.

Does anyone have strong views about which designs/manufacturers of harness are best?
 
Bit more talc. It's bound to stretch.
It has been pretty nippy of late and I wouldn't have been any keener to go off for a sail in a dinghy either.

However now that Spring is here (see my new avatar) and summer just around the corner there are no more excuses...........
 
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