Broken Rudder Bracket

[Moondance]

Hi

We hit something on the bottom and broke one of the rudder brackets on our 1996 26X.

It has the older style brackets.

Can these be welded? What are they made of?

Where can we fid a replacement if needed?

I've done a search on this site but can't find any references anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

[Night Sailor]

The older brackets are anodized aluminum. Many have broken and been welded back again.

Some on this forum have added reinforcing plates to the stock brackets to prevent breakage. Search the Mod section.

I don't know if the newer stainless steel brackets can be retrofitted to the older model boats. Ask at the factory, if someone else on this forum doesn't know.

[Craig LaForce]

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... record=458

Here you go.

[Moondance]

Thanks for the link.

I'll take the photos to a welder and hope for the best.

Bob

[waternwaves]

after repairing mine..........

make sure you do a good preheat of the entire bracket...... It, seems to TIG a lot better when it is just below 400 deg. F,

don't forget to retreat the heat affected and repaired areas with chromic acid.

I have no advice on the post weld heat treat......I opted for a slow oven cooling starting at 400 for 1 hour........300 for 1 hour.......200 for 1 hour.....

good luck

[mtc]

I've welded Al for years, and done correctly, your bond will be as strong if not stronger as other areas. The alloy responds well to TIG or MIG. You may want to price new brackets and weigh the margin. May be less to get a new bracket if they're available.

Unless you can anodize the bracket, you can paint it but don't leave the metal bare, simply won't last long in salt water.

Good luck.

[waternwaves]

a 70 deg F solution of 10 % chromic acid is basicly the anodyzing solution.

I have been using my new 3 stage battery charger (since it puts out a much less varying output current) (and yes I know its not what it was intended for.........) Since the brackets are small....... I used the 2 amp setting for the brackets..... (not a lot of surace area), You will never get the two finsished surfaces.... (old and new) to match perfectly, but they will be protected.

[normo]

waternwaves: very interesting

I will be beefing up my 1997 aluminum brackets soon.

1. Please explain in more (as in a lot more) detail how to accomplish the do-it yourself anodyzing.

2. Where does one acquire a 10% solution of chromic acid?

thanks

[waternwaves]

I am beginning to think making up a few beefier replacements is better than beefing up the old aluminum ones.. But I can always carry the old aluminum ones as spares.

On that note..........

I am in the middle of a move........ so......

I just removed mine today, to get a set of measurements off of them. and a set of drawings should be forthcoming......... As I need a new set of drawings if I am going to make the SS ones. The drawings will be in Autocad format.......if anyone has an interest\


chem supply for metal finishing............note.............this is not cheap if you are doing only a few things yourself

general list of suppliers is at ........

http://www.finishing.com/Chemicals/index.html

a particular is

http://www.finishing.com/Chemicals/acculabsprod.shtml

or

http://www.finishing.com/Chemicals/henkel.shtml

The process is possible for the average home user, but if you are only going to do these brackets...........its probably not cost effective.

however if you already have a 0-20V,0 to 20 A current limited power supply, timers, strip heaters, Temp controller, ventilation system, charcoal adsorber, and metal tanks for your other hobbies, i.e, auto restoration, motorcycles, gunsmithing, jewelry etc... its not that much to add this process also.


Some of you may note........... that I specified a 10% chromic acid solution,........and of course all of you in the aerospace industry know that is not the standard strength used for metal finishing..........which is something like 99.7 % chromium tri-oxide........

I dilute for a couple of reasons.....I use agitation in the tank, ..I like smaller smaller pitting size, I dont worry about the longer time.... And I dont like large high strength acid solutions open when I spill, splash, or make other mistakes which deposit the solution on the wrong surface. With a 10 to 20 % solution, I have a chance to clean it off of anything I accidentally spill on....