Thoughts on Dagger boards.

Having recently had to repair one of mine (and missing a weekend of sailing in the process) I thought it might be a good idea to have a spare or 2 around.

I figured I could layer up 1/8th inch ply then sand to shape and glass/gellcoat over that. Since they're not going to be class legal anyway I thought I might address a couple of issues. First because they don't always stay where you want them I thought about putting 2 or 3 notches along the leading edge above the waterline. Second Mine tend to float a bit and bob in the wells. By leaving the center hollow you could add some lead to the bottom half leaving the overall weight the same but lowering the CG.

Also somebody on another thread said that lining the wells was pretty common. What is a good material for this that is easy to keep clean and doesn't rot in salt water? Also what's a good way to affix it?

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

Spare set? Probably not too necessary unless you're someone who's always finding the bottom. Even then, I'd be much more inclined to buy a used set than try to make a set. You'll probably end up spending a heck of a lot of time building daggers that aren't as good as the originals unless you're quite handy and have the tools. The foil profile is quite critical, if you don't get that right you will definitely not get good performance. Not to mention that the boards are subject to considerable load. If you don't build them strong enough, they'll bend excessively or just break all together.

Skip the notches and the lead, if your daggers don't stay put, use a stronger bungee cord and/or better padding in the dagger trunk. I wouldn't add lead to any part of my boat.

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I agree that trying to build your own would not be worth the effort given the availability of used ones. And I am one who loves to build things on my own and am guilty of doing so too often.

As to the hollow/lead option, that will not change anything if the total weight is the same the boyancy is the same. So as far as floating up in the wells goes, the C of G does not make any difference.