We put an average of 4,200 nautical miles on the boat through the water each year. In 2012 we repaired the end of the cable that connects to the centerboard and now, almost three years later we need to make a similar repair. That's a lot of miles between repairs though we'd rather the centerboard stay put without falling out with great fanfare. But it all comes down to maintenance. Ed lowered the centerboard three weeks ago and dove on it to inspect the cable connection to the board's eyebolt. He found the cable thimble had worn through so the cable was directly connecting to the eyebolt. He installed some rubber hose as some chafe protection between the cable and eyebolt as a temporary fix. Two weeks from now when we're in St. Maarten, one of our scheduled work projects was to replace the entire cable and make the proper connection of the cable to the board. The board apparently didn't like being put on hold for a "scheduled work project". Isn't that the way it typically goes on boats? Luckily for Ed this should be an easy fix while we're here and then the job will be completed more thoroughly once we're in St. Maarten. This is the frayed cable (the loop at the bottom).