Centerboard dimensions

G

Gronkinator

New Member
A few years ago I found the body of an old scorpion at a garage sale. It's about the same size and shape as a sunfish that my cousins had that sunk (13 or 14 feet long). The rudder from the sunfish fits well, but the centerboard they had was split and bent. I am going to cut a new centerboard from some plywood, and I was wondering if anyone might be able to give me the dimensions of a centerboard that would work for this size boat. I have a centerboard that fits from a smaller boat, but when the wind's coming from the side, the boat tends to just drift sideways, I guess because it is too small.

also, some of the laquer on the rudder is beginning to peel off. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to just sand off the peeling areas and re-coat it, or if there's anything I should watch out for while I'm doing this.

thank you for any help you can offer.

btw, I noticed a few questions about cleaning sails. I was talking to my dad about this (he's been sailing catamarans for years), and he gave me this formula. take about 1/4 cup oxyclean or similar cleaner, 1/4 cup mild dishwashing detergent, a tablespoon of vinegar, and enough warm water to dillute it all. he said that the vinegar and oxyclean will kill any mildew or algea on it, although it takes a couple of days for it to die off. what's left afer that should come off very easily. I haven't gotten a chance to try this out yet, so I can't personally vouche for it.
 
Gronk,

Look on the Sunfish Class page http://www.sunfishclass.org in the ISCA rules are the max. and min dimensions. You should be able to get what you need from these.

Interesting chemistry there. Oxiclean is a mix of Bases, Hydrogen Peroxide and Lye; an acid, Vinegar; a soap. I will venture that the Base and Acid are neutralizing one another leaving the soap to do all the real work.

All the sail makers have sail care advice on their web sites. Probably best to follow their suggestions and leave the potions to Severus Snape.

Mol
 
As for sail cleaning, my experience is to use whatever you wish, just make sure you remove it all with plenty of water. Sunlight & alkaline products are supposed to be a bad mix for sailcloth, so do your cleaning in the shade and again, make sure you remove ALL of it. Polyester is pretty tough stuff.

In addition to my above experience, I ran a mailorder sailcloth business in the 80s, catering to the hang gliding/ultralight community.
 
thanks all the help.

one other thing please. could anyone give me a rough estimate of the size of a sunfish sail? I looked through that website, but it doesn't give the sail's dimensions. I am using a sail from another boat, and it seems to do well with it, but I wasn't sure if I might need to use a larger centerboard or if the sails are about the same size. the sail I am using is about 85 by 145 inces.

as far as the formula, I do not believe that there would be enough vinegar to nutralize all the oxy-clean. maybe it could be the salt from the reaction that kills the algea? idk.
 
I measured my old 1969 Ratsey & Lapthorn sail. The two sides with grommets measure 160” (13’4”) and the luff measured 170” (14’2”). Vanguard states the area to be 75 sq.ft. for the recreational sail with the Racing sail a little larger due to a deeper draft (edge measurements are the same).
 
Thank you for all your help. I think the sail I am using is 85 square feet, so I guess I will have to scale up the centerboard some to make up for the difference.
 
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