Tanzer 16, Center Board Lifting Handle

Tanzer 16, Center Board Lifting Handle --  May 14, 2016 --   The centerboard lifting handle broke during all the gear removal prior to painting.  I wanted a larger one anyway, so we made one up. The hardest parts of the job were finding a stainless steel threaded rod (#10/24) and drilling a hole in the center of a dowel without a lathe.

The rod came from Cut 2 Size Metals.com in Illinois.  The rod was only 15 bucks, but the packing and shipping was $26.  When the tube with the rod inside arrived, I could see that the shipping charge was fair.

Anyway--in order to drill a centered hole in a cylinder, I used the drill press.  First I screwed some 2x4's together and clamped them to the drill press bed.

Then I drilled a 1 1/8-inch hole--nice tight fit for the dowel.

Then the cut off dowel when into the hole--being careful that nothing moved on the table.

Now we had a hole centered in the cylinder--I had to take the blank out and drill from both sides to get all the way through with my short twist bit.

Then some paint and stainless washers with lock nuts--better handle.  Hope it doesn't interfere with the halyards that run aft to the centerboard cap.  Seems as though they don't, but you never know until you get out on the water.

The empty ring is for the boom vang.  The two little turning blocks take the
main and jib halyards back to the cleats and winch on the centerboard trunk.