Need help with replacing the ropes on Monark M-1 centerboards

[DrJAB]

Ahoy mates, I'm new to the forum, but been enjoying boating and life on the water for years. I've got a 2003 Sea Ray 182 bowrider for skiing, a canoe and kayak for chilling. I recently bought a little 14 foot Monark M-1 sailboat at a price that was almost a giveaway. It's in decent sailing condition, but one thing is worrying. The boat's got two retractable centerboards that aren't removable (or if they are I don't know how to do it!). They are positioned up under the hull, and ropes come up through the hull so that you can pull one end of the rope and a board will lower, pull the other end and the board raises. These ropes are severely frayed, and I'm fearful that they will break soon and I'll be stuck with a centerboard that I can't raise. Anyone have experience with replacing these ropes or removing these centerboards?

[tpenfield]

Spend some time figuring out how to remove the CB's. There is probably a bolt that the boards pivot on. Once you are able to lower the centerboards from the hull you can dress them up with new lines, feed the lines up through their respective holes in the CB trunk and then reinstall the CB's.

[DrJAB]

I've raised the boat off the trailer to give it enough height to lower the centerboards all the way down.... there's a groove along which the pivot should be able to slide while removing/lowering the centerboard. I was thinking that there was a particular angle that you position the centerboard that lines up the pivot with the groove, making it easy to slide out. But no luck so far... can't seem to find the magic position to slide it out. And there's no bolts or hardware to remove in order to take out the boards, either. Anyone else with suggestions.

[southkogs]

Neither here nor there, but I think you've got a Monark 14. I think* (* note the magic word) the M-1 was a daggerboard boat.

I haven't been able to see something that shows the boards from the cockpit side, but on our boats (Oday and Capri) there was a metal bracket inside the cockpit that was the pivot point for the centerboard. The bracket didn't necessarily protrude up from the sole, but you may have had to get to it from the hatch under the mast.

I'm assuming your centerboards are on either side of the cockpit under those lockers where you sit. Can you see the assembly when you open those up?

[DrJAB]

The cockpit doesn't show any access ports to the pivot points for either centerboard, it's sealed. We're thinking that we may have to drill an access hole.

[DrJAB]

Received some feedback from another forum yesterday.... seems the pivots are spring loaded (like the bar that holds toilet paper). Trick is to insert a screwdriver and push the pivot end inward, then hold it in place while doing the same to the opposite pivot end. We'll give it a try!

[tpenfield]

Post some pictures when you can. It would be interesting to see the details of the keel/centerboard pin and the lines.

[southkogs]

Yeah ... that sounds kinda' cool.

[Zymurgy]

Post some pictures so that we can get more details.

[dwco5051]

Nothing here to see, my mistake in trying to post in another section