Daggerboard Trunk

orion27 · Post by **orion27** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:57 pm

Since I dry sail "Misfit", I have the luxury of inpecting the hull from time to time at my leisure. I have a dry, fair hull, topsides and deck, I'm happy to say. While under the boat this morning inspecting the daggerboard trunk, I noticed what appeard to be delrin "bearings" for want of another term, inset for and aft and almost flush with the bottom inside the daggerboard trunk. The dimension approximately 1"x2" rectangles. I didn't gauge the depth of the inset but wonderd how they were fastened to the hull. They appeared firmly in place but the area both for and aft could use some fairing as some of the existing fairing has chipped away. I haven't read anything about these "bearings" and assumesd they were in place to protect the daggerboard edges in case of grounding and also to soften the impact of such grounding. Are these bearings part of the 7.9 build or is this some addition made the previous owner. I would question the owner but he is out of the country until late August. I would like to hear from anyone who could elaborate these "bearings", whether replacements are available, how they are fastened ect. I'd be happy to take pictures and post them on my website and would be happy to post other's photos of the "bearings" as well. I also understand the thickness of the hull is 4"to 6" in the area of the "bearings". A comforting thought is true.

Tom D.
Still Pond,Md
'Misfit" #511

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:47 am

IMHO they are there just to help maintain the leading and trailing edges when raising and lowering the board, and yes, they came that way. A good grounding makes them a moot point though. I replaced them on our boat with UHMW polyethylene that I cut to fit. Just epoxy them in place. Nothing sticks to the stuff but nothing much sticks to anything that is slippery [teflon, delrin, polpropylene, etc]. If you use a very rough sand paper like 40# or 60# and shape the thinckness/depth of the bearing with it, there are enough deep gouges in the bearing surface to let the epoxy find something to get a grip on and stop the piece from moving.

orion27 · Post by **orion27** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:31 pm

Thanks Dave, just wondering if all boats had them. I appreciate your reply.

dave wrote:IMHO they are there just to help maintain the leading and trailing edges when raising and lowering the board, and yes, they came that way. A good grounding makes them a moot point though. I replaced them on our boat with UHMW polyethylene that I cut to fit. Just epoxy them in place. Nothing sticks to the stuff but nothing much sticks to anything that is slippery [teflon, delrin, polpropylene, etc]. If you use a very rough sand paper like 40# or 60# and shape the thinckness/depth of the bearing with it, there are enough deep gouges in the bearing surface to let the epoxy find something to get a grip on and stop the piece from moving.