Tandem Island Rear Centre Board Control System

People have been asking about my centre board control system so here is the full instructions

Tandem Island Rear Centre Board Control gives you the ability to raise and lower the Tandem Islands centre board from the rear seat without having to get up.

The system is very simple and easy to make. Basically you run a rope from the front of the Control Knob to a pulley upfront which allows the rope to run back to the cockpit. This is the raising control line. Another rope leads from the knob directly back to the cockpit, to a cleat and is used to lower the centre board. The image below is the whole system.



Step 1. Remove the cover of the Centre Board Control Know and then remove the knob completely by loosening the bolt inside with a socket. It is spring loaded but won't fly off anywhere. You need to find a nylon washer that will fit under the knob and slide easily over the plastic frame. I have used a washer from a Railblaza fitting that I pulled apart and drilled out. The idea behind the washer is to stop the knob from locking down in the frame that it slides over. We use a cleat for that now.



Step 2 Drill holes in the knob so that you can fit a rope through it. The rope ends are joined inside the cap. I have stitched mine to be a snug fit but you can simply tie knots in the ends to stop them pulling out.



Step 3. The rope that is on the front of the knob is the one we use to raise the centre board and must go forward to a turning block or cheek block. Mine is mounted using the Yaktrac system which means no more drilling holes. The cleat in the image is not used in anyway for the centre board control system, it just sits above the pulley. The pulley is mounted off to the side on an aluminium bracket so the line runs back away from the hull and passenger. Stops it getting tangled or caught.



Step 4. The forward control line then runs to the back of the boat to another rear cheek block that is located on the forward hole of the main sheet cheek block. Here I have removed the front screw and mounted a second check block but it is only secured by one screw. The top screw is simply a dummy for looks, it doesn't move around and is not under any great load but looks better having something there. No holes have been drilled into my hull except for the Yaktrac mounts. By having this cheek block here, the control line is kept off to the side off the hull and does not get caught up in anything. The Cheek block redirects the line back up to the cockpit.



Step 5. The second control line to pull the centre board down simply runs directly from the Centre Board Knob to the rear cockpit. It does not go through any blocks or pulleys. Straight back to my cluster of cleats. If you stitch the ropes or keep your knots very small you can fit the cover back on but don't stress if you can't. Works without it.



Step 6. Both control lines now lead back to the cockpit and you need a system to be able to grab them easily and also lock them down or up. I have made up a cluster of cleats that fit directly into where the standard rear main sheet cleat would normally be. I have removed that cleat, and created a plate on which I have mounted 3 cleats. One controls the main sheet, one does the furling line and the middle one does the centre board down control. The centre board up control runs through a hole in the middle of the cleat cluster directly below the Centre Board Down control line and is not cleated. (In mine right now I can only lock it in the down position but will add another cleat.)

The end of the rope is a loop appearing to be one continuous piece of rope, remember it is joined in the knob. The rope colour is bright orange and it's 5 mm in diameter. The loop excess or amount of rope in the cockpit is very small, no more then 10 cm protruding into the cockpit. You can make it longer or have 2 seperate bit's of rope coming in but you are adding to the number of ropes you have in the cockpit and the smallest amount is best and out of the way is even better. So with mine, there is only a small loop in the cockpit and I have to slide forward to grab it, but, you only use it a couple of times a sail so it's not like the main sheet or furling line that is constantly being adjusted. The rope is bright orange and the cleat has a yellow bridle on it so I can identify it easy.

You don't need the elaborate cleat system I have made up, just something simple and out of the way. Try not to drill any holes in any part of the boat if you don't have too.





There you go, now you don't have to get up to adjust the centre board. This has been a great addition to my Tandem and makes sailing solo much easier.

You can view on our website http://www.seqic.com.au/hobie-adventure-island-how-to-guides-and-mods/tandem-island-rear-centre-board-control/

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Sth East Qld Hobie Island Club Captain.
https://www.seqic.com.au