I've acquired and older Starby Start, the centreboard gasket needs replacing. The original stuff is 2mm thick, would have been white originally but is now yellowed and perished. It's a 70mm x 570mm single rubber strip with a slit down the middle, glued into a shallow recess, no retaining clips or strips.
I have some 1.5mm nitrile stuff and some 1.5mm insertion rubber from Bunnings in the shed, but it seems too floppy to keep water out.
Looking for advice on appropriate material to use (and where to get it).
It is stiffer than rubber, likely to be a polyurethane (that maybe tapers toward the slit, so it is stiff for most and flexy at the edge?)
Clark Rubber may sell polyurethane sheet that is similar...? But no taper......
I do know the stuff we used to get for rally car mudflaps about 3mm thick was insanely durable and reflected in the price :(
Like the stuff you put on the carpet under an office chair to stop it getting worn.... but without the spikes lol
You can buy purpose made material for dinghy centreboards. Called "slot strip". Says it works with epoxy glue. This is from my local marine shop. tamarmarine.partica.online
Clarence
yeah polyurethane is what i used for my Mistral Equipe 2
www.windpowerwindsurfing.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_67&products_id=5558
Ive been told by a board builder to use 'Raven'rubber door seals from bunnings. Then use sailcloth patch across leading edge.He swears by it. Otherwise ive used mylar sewn inside dacron. A strip either side, contact cemented in place. Edges just overlapping.
It's a Start not a raceboard, don't worry about the gasket strip and just go sailing on it. More than a few of us started our windsurfing journey using Jeff Irvin's old Start, it's a dog of a thing with an ill fitting centreboard from something else and a dodgy fin from something different again but sailed just fine. Plenty of kids and adults sailed for their first time on this board, it's a cracker!
