Repairs to a wooden centerboard

R

Rick_Kraemer

New Member
I recently received a laser with a wood centerboard and rudder, and am hoping this forum can help me with repair ideas. I really hate refinishing, because I'm so picky about the results, so I've offered in another posting to swap these wood blades for a fiberglass set. While I wait for a response, I've started the refinish work, because I really want to get this boat out on the water.

Here's my situation: the trailing edge of the centerboard is ragged and missing from 1/8" to 1/4" of wood after being sraped and banged around for years. I'd like to fill this in and restore the centerboard to its original shape, but I'm not sure what to use for filler. I could use wood putty, but I've never filled a void this large with putty, and I'm not sure how durable the putty would be. My father recommends fiberglass, but I think that would ruin the look of the wood. What can I use that will be moldable, sandable, stainable, will look nice, and be durable?
 
put the blade through a table saw and cut off the bad parts. Epoxy a new piece of mahagany in place. fair... varnish

Be careful to make the blade the same size as the original. If you have a problem figuring out what that size would be...find another Laser blade somewhere and approximate the size as well as you are able. Further advice on repair and refurbishment of old blades can be found at:

http://cerebus.winsite.com/laser/archives
 
Here's my situation: the trailing edge of the centerboard is ragged and missing from 1/8" to 1/4" of wood after being sraped and banged around for years. I'd like to fill this in and restore the centerboard to its original shape, but I'm not sure what to use for filler. I could use wood putty, but I've never filled a void this large with putty, and I'm not sure how durable the putty would be. My father recommends fiberglass, but I think that would ruin the look of the wood. What can I use that will be moldable, sandable, stainable, will look nice, and be durable?[/QUOTE]

Either cut the trailing edge back by 1/4" down the whole length, re-shape & re-finish.
OR
If you don't want to loose any of the foil, I filled two large chunks in the trailing edge of mine with an epoxy filler. I taped up one side, then applied the filler on to the other side. When dry enough, I removed the tape, put a bit more filler on the taped side, wait for it all to go completely hard, and then sanded to shape. I guess it depends what type of chunks you have missing - mine were two very distinct chunks! I'm not overly fussed about how things look, as long as they perform, so I didn't bother to even re-finish it after sanding to shape - although I did use a filler that dried white.

Matt.
 
Thanks for these great ideas! They both look like a lot of sanding work, so I'm going to wait for this winter to start the repairs. I'll let you know how it works out.
 
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