Rudder Line Fiberglass Hole Damage

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dustoff
Chief Steward
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:25 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Stevensville, MD

Rudder Line Fiberglass Hole Damage

Post by dustoff »

Hey folks,
Been a long time since I posted, but I wanted to share a type of damage that happened, my planned fix, and prevention thoughts.
The situation was caused when I was motoring at about 4 knots with the rudders down coming into a docking slip in shallow water. I had the daggerboard down about 1 foot for maneuverability purposes, which I often do when I'm maneuvering in tight spaces when I'm worried about the depth.
The right rudder dug into the mud hard, and the resulting tension/stress on the rudder line caused it to damage and crack the fiberglass around the hole coming up through the transom on the side toward the horn cleat the rudder line was cleated off to. Damage was a good 1/2 inch long.
I'm in the process of repair now, I've grinded, sanded and patched the fiberglass over an area the size of your palm to properly repair the hole.
In the process I also plan to add a thru-deck bushing (which MacGregor should have had there in the first place) The link to the product is below.
I'll post some photos of the finished work. I plan to add one to the other side as well, which will be a lot easier without having to repair damage.
As far as prevention goes. It doesn't really make sense to have the daggerboard up higher than the rudders in most situations where you need the maneuverability of the fins. I I had had my daggerboard at the same depth as the rudders, it would have touched bottom first, and would have probably stopped the boat fine without causing any damage at all. (This has happened to me many times in the Chesapeake bay, I'm not ashamed to admit). The bushings I'm adding would probably have prevented the cracking also, but at higher speeds, probably not, or would have transferred damage to something else, like the rudder bracket, or most hopefully, the rudder line breaking the way it is supposed to.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/ronstan- ... ecordNum=2
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