by lemsteraak » Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:01 pm
Yes, that is a boat made by Sunfish Laser Inc, and you have found one of the shortcomings in all the DS1's. All in all a great boat, it is a bit of a redesign / modernization of the O'Day and they did an excellent job adding features without compromising the original design. They are well suited for racing and quite competitive right out of the box. An excellent boat for heavy weather.
The centerboard problem you mentioned is really common. The CB handle is the same from the original DS1 design and with the exact same advantages and shortcoming as the original. Most of the centerboard locks have been taken out for racing as when you are in a hurry to get the board down an inexperienced crew will forget that the lock is there. Crews can easily bend the handle and they don't bend back easily and are expensive to replace, so most skippers remove the lock. The second area is that it is common practice is to support the board somehow when trailering. Having the handle "locked" isn't necessarily the best as the square hole in the CB can enlarge and can develop a lot of play. I just finished putting a piece of plywood under the centerboard area on my trailer to support the board. Most of these trailers are designed for all around use or for fishing boats and not well designed for sailboats.
Someday you will want to take out your centerboard and repair the bite where your trailer bit it. First make a support for the board and then there is a lot of info in this forum on how to repair centerboards. Nice score on the boat, you will love it.