The carpeting in the daggerboard wells has deteriorated to the point of uselessness, and is not peeling off in parts occasionally causing the boards to stick or worse yet, jam altogether. I have tried (unsucsessfully) to remove it. Anyone got any secrets to getting the old stuff out completely so I can replace it? Boat is an N20, so the daggerboard wells are quite small and tough to reach into

If it's the factory stuff, it's not too difficult to remove. I have come across some home-installed stuff that was about impossible to remove on some boats in the past. If the adhesive is slightly soft, acetone will probably break it down permitting the repeated use of a razor blade to remove it. If it's hard (like epoxy), a new set of small files may be in your future. A heat gun might help, but don't go too crazy with it.

Second that. Factory "fur" comes off with acetone. Good to clean the area with it (and let it dry) before applying more fur.

Despite all the "solutions", I was lucky enough to only need the factory fur. I bought about 10' of it from the dealer, and replaced the stuff about once or twice per season. I made sure there was positive pressure (stuffed the area with rags) when applying the fur and let it sit overnight to make sure the sticky stuff had plenty of contact in the daggarwell. I also set the fur about 1 mm above the edge of the well, so that sand wouldn't get between the fur and the daggarwell...

As long as your stinkin' crew doesn't slam the boards down the well when you first put them in, the tape should hold reasonably well.

Some team out west put outdoor carpet on the inside of the well (further up from the bottom) and it was there only to minimize the board from slipping up and down. They then had some "good-ole boy engineering" gasket thingy at the bottom of the daggarwell. Not sure if it worked better than the factory stuff, but they sure were proud of it...

the epoxied in carpet above the lip is what I have to deal with. I managed to pull much of it out with a pair of pliers and some muscle, but there is still enough in there to cause problems.

Just an idea. Instead of using rags to apply presure to the carpet how would an inner-tube from a tire work? stuff it in there with out any wrinkles and put 5-10 lbs of pressure on it that should be about as even as you could get.

Hmmm... That sounds like a good idea.

Dremel? At least that can smooth out the epoxy left when you manage to get the carpet off. Maybe MEK could dissolve the carpet?

Tried the Dremel, it won't fit into the well. I was in the hardware store last night and they have steel yard sticks. I'm thinking i could file an edge onto one end and scrape the carpet off then sand off the remaining glue.

Is this the carpet on the top or bottom of the well?

As far as pressure goes...ummm...use the daggerboard.

The carpet is at the bottom of the well, above the lip. I was also wondering why people would not use the boards to hold the padding in place. My fear would be that the glue would bleed through whatever the padding is and glue the daggerboard in place.

Wax the dagger board well first and the glue won't stick.

Used my Nacra boards to hold the material in place without a problem...1)don't get excessive with the adhesive, 2)clean and wax your boards first and, 3)don't ram the boards in excessively. Even if you find a bit of adhesive on your boards it cleans up easily.

I used a couple of different files and a razor knife to clean out the old adhesive first.

Good luck, Tom G

Doesn't waxing the board well kind of defeat the purpose Chris? Try waxing the board itself, and degreasing the well.

Good luck!

Heh? Uuuhhh Ohhh....sounds like you have a boat where someone dreamed that fairing the hull to the boards was a great idea. The N20 daggerboard opening (at least the ones I'm familiar with) should not have a lip on it at the bottom and should simply go straight up to the top. The carpet should fill the gap between the board and the hull and be exposed at the bottom. There might be a little pinched in area in the profile near the back of the slot - but no lip. This explains the jamming problem and your difficulty getting to the carpet. You may need to cut away that lip. Want me to trace the factory opening on a piece of paper and mail it to you?

Our Tybee boat for '05, when I crewed for Carl Roberts, had the bottoms of the hull faired to the daggerboards. If we touched ANYTHING with the board, it was impossible to raise up. We lost about four or five positions over the course of the week because of that fairing. Eventually I got good at tying a quick purchase to the trapeze line to pull up on the daggerboard. After hitting a shark coming into Ormond Beach the board wouldn't come up for any amount of persuasion and made the beach landing a bit tricky.

Interesting...

My boat actually has a lip that goes around the top and the bottom of the daggerboard wells. It is about a 1/4" thick and about 1" tall (as tall as the carpet). This is not a fairing, the carpet edges are still exposed (and there is still some slop to the board) so I don't think it was added by a previous owner. For reference, my boat is a '99. maybe they changed the cases after that.

Just thought I would share what I have seen...

cheers.

My boat is a 2000 and sounds like it's the same as yours.

My 2000 boat was like that, too. Not really a lip, but sort of an indent above the bottom edge. Probably had something to do with the reinforcement at the bottom of the well.

Karl, what about one of those hook shaped knives that the ferriers use? It's sharp on the inside of the hook and you could use that to scrape off some of the epoxy and then get it smooth with a rasp or something?

How far up does the carpet go? Just along that lower band, or all the way up the inside of the daggarwell?

Maybe that was what was left after all the gel coat was taken off the boat... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

OK, well maybe I was misaligned. In hindsight, I now recall the lip you are referring too. However, even though mine has that, the carpet is at the very bottom of the hull and easy to get at. I'm not being much help am I? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I meant the adjective, not the noun - i.e. lots of wax on the board, (wax the dagger board well) rather that putting wax on the dagger board well...