FreedomYachts.org

I'm working on my Freedom CK center board trunk. I removed the cover to the
centerboard trunk for the first time since buying Ethel in the fall. There is
what seems to be a one foot length of wood something smaller than a 4 x6 - maybe
a 3 x 5 bolted to the top (one bolt) forward end of the trunk . This upper wood
block is secured by one bolt and is directly underneath the two single lead
blocks that lead from the center board block and lead through the pipe up to the
block on top of the cabin. Looking down into the trunk there is a smaller
triangular lower wood block at the front end of the board next to the pin.

I can't figure out that these wood blocks do. They have deteriorated and are in
poor condition and I can only assume they somehow give some stability to the
board when it is all the way up. The trough along the forward edge of the
centerboard is a good 4 or 5 inches from the block when the board is all the way
up which means that the top block is too far from the board to be snug and
prevent any wagging etc. or more likely the blocks were maybe part of something
else.

If anyone can shed any light on the purpose of these wooden 4 x 6s on the
forward end of the trunk, or whether they are part of something else that has
deteriorated and has been removed, I would appreciate it. Regards Max Creighton

I have a f28 and have been in that trunk a cpuple times. I had nothing like that in my trunk.
Maybe the po used it to back something or even some attempt to put a preventer in the works that would keep the board down if boat turned over. Just a guess. Maybe he blocked the board while working on it last time and forgot about it until he closed up the patient.
Better aslk Michel..... Numbknots

Nothing like that in the UK built F35's, either. Any wood in there is bound to rot, unless heavily painted/epoxied, since it will always be damp, often wet, and rarely seen. I think Numbknots has it right.

regards,

My casing looked exactly like Gerald's, only a lot dirtier. But I had a UK built F33/35 catketch like Gerald. Perhaps the F28s were different, but I agree with Gerald that the wood is probably a foreign object in there. If you could make some photos, together we could perhaps figure out what the purpose of these blocks is. Reading your description over again, the blocks might be stopper blocks preventing the board to hit the (rope) blocks when the board is pulled fully up or preventing the rope blocks on the top of the board to be smashed into the fixed rope blocks when hitting the sea bed with the board fully up.

My current theory is that it was some remnant of a ground system. The bolt holding the wood was one inch stainless and off center in the trunk. Still a mystery!