Broken Rudder, Repair advice please..

[seahouse]

Yeah. Yeah that's it. So they'll snap easier.

[seahouse]

Hey Paul -

Nice job so far! If you have a table saw (or radial arm saw) and maybe carbide dado blade. After filling with your 'glass - consider taking 1/8" or 3/16" or so off each side of the thickness for about, say 8" from the top. Then make a metal plate to go on each side of that, through-bolted (outside of the steering brackets) to make up the thickness. Future failures will be somewhere lower down on the rudder, but never again there.

ps. I like your criket bat mixing board!

- Brian.

[Mac26Mpaul]

Metal plate idea is good Brian,,, but too much hassle for me
Not completely sure my son, who I am about to go pick up from school, is going to agree with you on liking the cricket bat mixing board Naa, just kidding, its been in my scrap wood pile since not long after he got it.........

[2BonC]

Thanks for comments and ideas,
Tomorrow I will take the clamps off and go buy some thin stainless bolts and drill some holes and epoxy them in. Then I will commence grinding away some of the rudder to add some layers of glass.

Paul, considder buying stainless tubes. Drill the holes a little bit bigger(.5mm) in diameter than the tubes are to have space for the epoxy.

Rainer

[seahouse]

Absolutely, Rainer. Last thing you want is to split it open with little or no clearance.

I was thinking (for economy and availability and grip on the epoxy) long galvanized lag bolts (~1/2") with the heads cut off.

[Mac26Mpaul]

Well I didnt end up going with the bolts, started grinding a bit of the rudder away and before I realized it, was probably further than I needed to go and probably not even room for the bolts. anyway, I have put some glass on and will do a few more layers, and then finish with the flowcoat I bought today.

I'm not even sure if I will bother grinding back and putting glass cloth on the other side. The original rudder, made out of glue, lasted more than four years without a problem, and I reckon beefed up like this, it will already be way stronger than the original. Will see how I feel after shaping this side I'm working on

[arvid]

Make a new rudder or two of ferrocement and make new board too ... Its a cheap , strong and easy solution and the board originally is to ligth in weigth , heavy rudders also helps the nearly egglike balance of our boats ....

Arvid

[DaveB]

If it doesn't work out BWY has the rudder for $225.
Dave

[RobertB]

If I was going to manufacture a rudder, my material of choice would be either marine grade plywood or laminated wood (or a combination) - after shaping either coverred in a layer or two of fiberglass. This is exactly how I built two rudders in the past for smaller boats I built. Very easy with standard woodworking tools. I would also install a bronze bushing in the rudder pivot hole.

[tango11]

On my previous sailboat, a Stiletto 27 catamaran, capable of m0re than 20 kts, the rudders were made of wood (oak): I do not know if they were laminated. If a rudder breaks on my 26X, I will build one made of solid oak, with a layer of fiberglass/epoxy. I have installed bronze bearings in my present rudders so that they can be properly aligned.

[DaveB]

If you make it out of solid oak than glass it over, it will be very hard to lift up. Thats why I filled the bottom with resin up to 6 inches and fliped rudder upside down to fill the head another 6-8 inches so both ends are solid resin but still have the weep holes to fill with water. My rudders are very easy to lower and raise with the counter balance and strengthens the head and bottom.
I also glassed the head seam with 2 layers of 6 ounce 6 inch wide cloth and feathered it in than regelcoated the rudders.
I also did this for centerboard but used Mat instead of cloth as it has higher strength. (my center board had a split at the head were they joined the both sides togeather)
Dave

On my previous sailboat, a Stiletto 27 catamaran, capable of m0re than 20 kts, the rudders were made of wood (oak): I do not know if they were laminated. If a rudder breaks on my 26X, I will build one made of solid oak, with a layer of fiberglass/epoxy. I have installed bronze bearings in my present rudders so that they can be properly aligned.

[Knot Tied Down]

What about having some stainless steel brakets on either side of the rudder with holes drilled that match up to the original holes on the rudder? This would take most of the strain and give the weakened area lots of strength?

*Dustin*

[Mac26Mpaul]

Thanks for all the tips and ideas. May give shaping some wooden rudders a go at some stage, but for now, I have just rebuilt it with about 7 layers of glass cloth. I'm pretty confident that its actually stronger than it was before.. Had a bit of trouble getting the bracket back in shape with my small vice and a rubber mallet, but she is close enough, in fact a tighter fit than the other side...

A note on flowcoat: I'v never used the stuff before, but now that I have, I am confused about why anyone uses gelcoat on repair work As far as I can see, flowcoat IS gelcoat, except it has some wax in it which comes to the surface once you slap the stuff on. This allows it to dry fast. In fact you can start sanding within hours (not days, or weeks..).

[Mac26Mpaul]

At the same time as I was doing the rudder, I finally got around to fixing that gouge in the bow I put in a few trips back. Flowcoat, and then I think I used 320 grit, and then a bit of 600, 1200 and 2000 wet and dry, and then a bit of polish and wax - easy stuff to work with

[Miss_Dallie]

OUCH!

I had a problem with lowering my rudders last Tuesday, so I decided to take a look today to find out why.
This is what I found...

I searched the blog and found this thread.

I am suppose to be going out Wednesday morning (7/4) and staying out for several days. I figured I didn't have time to repair the rudders in time for the fourth and it seems as though the IDA rudders would be better, I ordered a pair of them today from Rudder Craft. They don't have them in stock but said they would make them for me tomorrow. Their manufacturing department isn't normally open on Saturday but they said they would do this for me and overnight them to me on Monday; I should have them in hand on Tuesday. The pair of rudders have a lifetime warranty, this was one of the deciding factors to get the IDA rudders, the other reason is from what I read here.

Here's the break down: the pair of rudders is $749, next day air $149, I offered a tip for their kindness $100, getting to spend the night on the water July 4th with my Admiral...priceless.

So, a thousand dollars spent and I have no idea why the rudders are in the shape they are in. We hit nothing. Miss Dallie is only 14 months old. On Tuesday the rudders would not pull down into the water, the steering was screwy but we had a good time sailing. After reading this stream, I am shocked to hear (see?) how poorly the original rudders are made.

I will keep the original rudders and perhaps attempt a repair for spare parts in the event the IDA rudders do break; this would provide a means for sailing while waiting on the replacements.

Dipping into the retirement fund to fix the Mac will get old quickly, hopefully I won't have to do this type of costly repair often!

Ron
Miss Dallie