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Daggerboard lubricant (none / silicone / grease / something more exotic )


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Mainly for the catamaran crowd but i'm sure the issue crops up on trailer-sailers and boats with similar solutions for extending and retracting appendages.  

After a few casual conversations I'm getting some mixed advice on ways to ensure daggerboards slide in their cases well.  There seems to be a few camps: 

- Don't use anything

- Silicone

- Grease or the like 

- Some exotic concoction that i've never heard of

I'd be keen to hear what other sailors use and how you go about applying it correctly.  I'm wanting to keep it environmentally friendly.

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I use nothing.

The trick is to realize there is no need for a very tight fit and apart from the exit hole in the bottom of the hull the fit can be quite sloppy. For support higher up in the dagger board case you can use synthetic carpet material or astroturf to take up the slop and avoid noise. I use this both top and bottom in my rudder sleeves. Adding a wear protecting 'rail' (my English failed me) to the rear of the dagger board case is nice as that edge of the board can be a bit 'aggressive'.

Rudder sleeve seen here:

http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/pages/index.html

/Martin

 

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1 hour ago, armchairadmiral said:

What's happened to KM ?

I've been wondering the same.

Maybe he's working on getting the reptile back in the water? 

Wheels mentioned he was working on something big? Perhaps he's taken up working for a living?

Perhaps he got banned?

Or perhaps he is the Editor, and he is foxing us. Although it is more likely he got abducted by aliens.

Either that or there is no interweb at banana bread bay.

  • Haha 1
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2 hours ago, MartinRF said:

I use nothing.

The trick is to realize there is no need for a very tight fit and apart from the exit hole in the bottom of the hull the fit can be quite sloppy. For support higher up in the dagger board case you can use synthetic carpet material or astroturf to take up the slop and avoid noise. I use this both top and bottom in my rudder sleeves. Adding a wear protecting 'rail' (my English failed me) to the rear of the dagger board case is nice as that edge of the board can be a bit 'aggressive'.

Rudder sleeve seen here:

http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/pages/index.html

/Martin

 

Thanks Martin.  I haven't used anything so far and haven't really needed to.  However, It does give me grief when the boat is going fast and we need to slow it down to raise the windward board - so I thought i'd see what others are doing.

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4 hours ago, NZTiger said:

Thanks Martin.  I haven't used anything so far and haven't really needed to.  However, It does give me grief when the boat is going fast and we need to slow it down to raise the windward board - so I thought i'd see what others are doing.

Off-loading the board is what I do: a quick bear-away synchronized with pulling the board up.

Slowing down is safer though. :-)

/Martin

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13 hours ago, Fish said:

I've been wondering the same.

Maybe he's working on getting the reptile back in the water? 

Wheels mentioned he was working on something big? Perhaps he's taken up working for a living?

Perhaps he got banned?

Or perhaps he is the Editor, and he is foxing us. Although it is more likely he got abducted by aliens.

Either that or there is no interweb at banana bread bay.

#3

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11 hours ago, MartinRF said:

Off-loading the board is what I do: a quick bear-away synchronized with pulling the board up.

Slowing down is safer though. :-)

/Martin

Having raced cats for years, this is about the only practical method to get them up if underway. The best way is to get them up/down when tacking but often there aren't enough hands onboard to achieve this. If short tacking, then just leave both down, it doesn't seem to slow you down much. 

Be careful with GBE boards if your cases aren't well reinforced inside the boat. They really need to be all the way down or at the top of the case, as they are known to break the case if halfway down and the top of the board is in a unsupported part of the case,  

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We have a mixture of Teflon dust and epoxy as a final coat on our dagger board, worked the charm on two trimaran dagger boards owned so far.

photo(2).JPG

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I used to wet the boards of my GBE with seawater before putting them down.

Once I sprayed them with dry glide or similar, but be aware if you do that, painting and repairs etc need really really good prep.

I found wet and dry them nice and smooth and wet them and that was enough. Could never move under load, dont worry about that.

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Thanks for the advice team.  I'll try the wetting down approach and see how we go.  I'm reluctant to put anything on them that's going to have adverse environmental consequences for the sake of convenience.

Sounds like moving them up and down rapidly while underway seems to be out of the question in a GBE once you achieve trotting pace.

Cheers,

Justin

 

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