Hi Steven,

With boat in its slip and the centerboard lowered, put on your snorkeling gear and inspect:

1. Check that the centerboard pennant isn’t jammed up in between the board and the side of the well.

2. Check that there isn’t a big glob of sticky Mississippi mud stuck up in the well and jamming smooth movement.

3. While the centerboard is down, check for radial and side-to-side play in the pivot.  My pivot had to be replaced several years ago.  In my case, the worn pivot didn’t jam the centerboard.  Rather, it just caused the board to “clunk” against the sides of the centerboard well.  But, if the wear was severe enough, it could cause the centerboard to jam.  But, this would be a progressive degradation, not sudden as in your case.

4. You might also have a broken block on the centerboard pennant.  But, this should also be detectable from beneath the boat with the centerboard lowered.

Good luck!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 23, 2021, at 9:41 AM, Steven Alm <stevenalm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have the diamond board on my 1990. For the first time yesterday it was
> not operating smoothly like it always has for 25 years. I have not grounded
> or anything. I suspect the board and trunk are clogged up with zebra
> mussels. I’m slipped in Lake Pepin, which is really a stretch of The
> Mississippi River and yes, there’s a major infestation of these little
> bastards on the river but I’ve not had this happen before. This is our
> third season at this location and like a lot of the country, we’re
> experiencing drought conditions and the river is much lower than usual — so
> maybe being that much closer to the bottom at my slip puts me closer to
> their habitat.
> 
> But this is all an assumption at this point. My marina does have the big
> sling lift and we could inspect it that way, but before I incur that
> expense I thought I’d run it by y’all first in case anybody has had this
> happen — maybe it’s something else or maybe someone has a better idea.
> 
> I have removed the board from the inside before to replace the control line
> but it’s a real chore that I’d love to avoid if possible.
> 
> Note: the 50 or so bolts around the centerboard cap were originally
> Phillips heads and each and every one was a struggle to remove. I replaced
> them with hex heads so it won’t be near as bad the next time, if ever.
> 
> Thanks for any ideas
> Slim
> Fandango