How Will I Raise and Lower the Centerboard?

I received an anonymous comment asking how I will raise and lower the centerboard; a perceptive question. I've been asking myself the same thing, with no final solution. I'm open to suggestions.

The board weighs 19 pounds. It has a specific gravity something less than 1. In other words, it floats. I'm just guessing it will float on its own about halfway down, and will be no problem to raise and lower by hand, with no tackle required.

Two problems occur to me. The easy one is how to keep the board in place when I want it all the way up, or partly up? I drilled a hole near the top of the board, and will insert a wooden peg to hold the board all the way up. I'll hold the board partly up the traditional way, with a wedge.

The trickier problem comes from the fact that the board disappears completely below the top of the trunk by several inches when it is all the way down. Whether I will ever want the board down to its extreme limit depends on how the boat balances under sail. but if I do want it all the way down, how will I get it there, and how will I retrieve it once it is? I will have a stainless steel tang attached to the top of the board. I plan to attach a narrow shackle to the tang, holding a thimble with a spliced length of light line, making a pennant for the centerboard. When the board is up, giving the pennant a good pull back may give the board enough swinging momentum to drop all the way down. If not, I would need a push-stick. I will raise the board by pulling up on the pennant. I'm a little concerned whether the pennant might possibly get jammed in the trunk, but I don't think it will unless the tang can drop below the bottom of the boat.

Once the boat is built, if the board tends to float too high, I can experiment by clamping various weights to it, and then drill an appropriate sized hole in the board and fill it with lead.

If Anonymous or anyone else better ideas, this is a good time to speak up. Thanks for the question, Anonymous, and I'll report the results.