International Telstar Owners Association

This is suppose to be from the original equipment supplier to PCI

We have developed the replacement foil for the Telstar centerboard and will be making our first one later this month. We are charging $1300 for them. Let me know if you have any questions and/or would like to get an order in to fabricate one for you.
Sincerely,
David
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David Fawley
Vice President for Development

Chesapeake Light Craft

(410) 267-0137 x15

shop@clcboats.com

CLC (Cheapeake Light Craft) was not the manufacturer of the original Telstar or Genini center boards. I understand that their version is much improved over what PC supplied on the new boats. They worked with Tony to develop these boards. Note that the 28 had two diferent centerboards. Earlier boats had an approx 4 1/2 foot draft. At about hull #59 (my boat), Tony increased it to about 5 1/3 feet. I, or CLC, will post photo's and specifications when available.

My new centerboard is in and functional! I have not tested it going upwind in heavy seas and high wind, so I cannot really discuss performance, but going downwind in light-to-moderate wind and calm seas it was good.

The video is OK, but not complete. I have lots of lessons learned and some information about what to do after CLC delivers the finished board. I will not attempt to list them all here, but when I have time I write them up and provide them to anyone interested.

If you still have your broken board's top piece, take very good and detailed photos of how the roller and line are configured! this is critical!

John

I'd be VERY interested to hear all you can tell, either posted here or direct!

I will will write up my experiences and recommendations soon. If you send a private message, please give me an email to which I can respond.

John

John has produced an excellent set of notes to go with the video on replacing the center board.

OK, first without looking at your boat, which way do you crank to put the board down?

Now, assuming that it was installed backward, but still cranks up and down, what would happen if you hit bottom, especially going fast?

As you might guess. I am now wondering if mine is rigged wrong! And it was done by Tony!

Having now seen the whole mechanism, here is my thinking. The nut on the shaft about which the roller rolls tightens like a normal nut on a bolt. That means clockwise (looking from the nut end of the bolt). If when the board hits, it kicks back, then the line from the top of the board has to turn the shaft (not the nut) in the direction that you wind it to bring it up. If that rotation is clockwise (looking from the nut end of the bolt),then that loosens the nut, allowing the board to come up. it the roller turns counterclockwise, then the nut gets tightened, and you are, at best, hard aground with board down.

There are actually two rollers in the mechanism. The large roller is the one with the bolt through it. It is locked by the pins to the roller. The smaller roller is between the board and the larger roller. it purpose is to bring both ends of line down to the top of the board so that they pull along the board's top curve. The line to the top of the board goes behind that roller and then forward to the board's top (when extended). The line to the back of the board goes under the large roller, around the small roller, and back to the back of the board. In case yo are wondering, there is a screw in the large roller that can be tightened on the line so it cannot move without turning the large roller and the large roller cannot move without pulling on the line.

Assuming my explanation is correct, then I think that I am OK, though I have another issue with the line not being tight. Not sure if this makes a difference or not. guess we will find out!

I guess that as soon as someone who has not changed his centerboard writes to tell me the direction he turns the crank to lower the board, i can either sleep better, or work on a plan for pulling the board and fixing it!

John

I lower the board by turning counterclockwise and raise the board turning clockwise. Hope that helps.

I just started to work on the boat this week, and make some preparations for the centerboard replacement. This is the first time I took a good look at the broken board. It appears that the old board was made from plywood, without any fiberglass covering. If this is the case for other factory centerboards, they will all fail at some point.

I ordered a new center board from Chesapeake Light Craft several months ago. They delivered as promised, but I just now had a chance to open the create. The package is a work of art itself. The centerboard was nestled in a very solid wood custom container. I now know why shipping was so expensive. The board itself is obviously a quality product. I was promised a board that would last forever, and I believe this one will. I will replace the board sometime in January, and make sure I post the process when I do.

Thanks to Gene for the contact with Chesapeake Light Craft.