NHCAD

Centerboard

Removing the centerboard was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. From reading the yahoo group 'javelin sailors' I have figured out that there was an original design and then an improved design. O'Day made sailboats from 1960 to 1985. This boat being a 1964 Javelin it is one of the early models. I would love to find a hull number, but no such luck.
The boat lay on it's trailer in my driveway, with the centerboard pearing through the bottom of the boat, and the the inside of the boat as the centerboard trunk on this early model Javelin is open to see through. There isn't even a bolt that I have to remove, just lift the centerboard off its pivot - it uses a slot instead of a through hole.
Simple enough I thought. I did my best to prop up one side of the boat will trying to drop the centerboard to an almost vertical position to unhook it from the boat. Turned out the boat had to be tipped much more than I thought to clear the hull and cross beams on the trailer. Good thing nobody saw me as I must have looked certain to die while pinned between the hull and trailer. But it did come out eventually. I would recommend a 2nd hand before you try this yourself.

The centerboard is galvanized steel, roughly 45 pounds. Looks as though my centerboard had spent some time moored or tied to a dock. There is an obvious waterline, where the galvanized coating stops and the rust begins. The pitting is significant at and below the water line. Even the slot to hinge about is below the waterline and obviously distorted from corrosion.

I used a right angle grinder with a sanding disk to remove the majority of the rust. Perhaps I should have tried my hand at repairing the pitting before painting it, but I didn't. I was anxious to produce something and get it crossed off the list. After cleaning it up with a sanding disk, I gave the centerboard a coat of rustoleum primer from a spray can.

Then I topcoated it with blue rustoleum. The final coat has good adheasion and should protect the underlying steel. I regret not prepping it better before paint. It may well need some attention again in a couple of years, and I can further ivestigate methods to fill in the holes and paint it again.