Saturday, September 28, 2013

Daggerboard Case

In some places I have seen the term Centerboard refer to any retractable board located inside a sailboat that is used to limit side slip when under sail. A Daggerboard is a type of centerboard that slides straight up and down in a case. Sometimes Centerboard is used to refer only to a board that pivots on a pin. So forgive me if I interchange the terms a little.


 This is the side of the daggerboard case. The top is reinforced with a piece of  1 by 2. You could just glue a straight board across the top, but I had fun shaping the rails. I think they look a little nicer and they are lighter.
The case then goes into the boat. The exact location is pretty critical. The case must be directly under the cut out in the seat tops. It must be as vertical as possible fore and aft and side to side.Also you would like it to be in line with the keel of the boat. A lot to keep track of.

I ran a string from bow to stern to develop a centerline and transferred some marks to some boards clamped temporarily in place.



Lots of test fitting until finally I went ahead and glued the case in place.

A fillet and some tape around the case and I will be ready for the seat stringers and seat tops.