[Public-List] Wanted .................Comments on A30 Rudder Construction, esp Rachel and Andrew Cole

[crufone at comcast.net]

Hello all, 



I am now after (8).... yes eight years beginning the refit of the Lorrie Rose.  I plan to start at the bottom.  I have two of the Whitby Factory thru hulls to replace, and the rudder looks like a mess. 



George was kind enough to post some photos which I sent to him of my rudder. The link is pasted below.  Please take a moment to review these photos so you have a reference for your comments. 



http://alberg30.org/maintenance/Steering/RudderVarieties/LorrieRose/ 



I have reviewed most of the posts on rudders since 2004 and suspect that my rudder is how they were made at Whitby for the year of my boat, 1966 #133.  Originally I thought that this mess on rudder was just a bunch of lousy repairs.  I would like to have a consensus from those on-line to confirm that this is how Whitby put these rudders together.  Rachel # 221 and Andrew Cole #152 beat this subject pretty much to death, but I didn't see any photos which Rachel mentioned that she took of her rudder work. 



Upon inspection of my rudder all appears sound except that the rudder flexes 'a little' where the five upper bolts hold the leading edge of the rudder to the upper section of the rudder post. The central hinge and the shoe pin are fine with no play whatsoever.  When I tap the shoe with a hammer I get a slight vibration so I believe that it is loose from the boat. Also some of the pairs of bronze straps sound hollow underneath when tapped with a hammer. Some of the upset rivets holding the straps together don't have much of an upset head left.  Lorrie Rose has been a freshwater boat all her life so there is virtually no corrosion. 



How easy is it to dig out the filler pieces to get to the supposed nuts on the end of the five upper bolts which hold the post to the blade?  Once the nuts are off how easy is it to remove the bronze bolts to inspect/replace them? In practice is it possible to remove the five upper bolts, disengage the central hinge point from the boat and lift the rudder off the shoe pivot and remove it from the boat? Has anyone done this so they can caution me as to the pitfalls of the process? 



I feel that the rudder in its present condition, presents such a drag thru the water and would disrupt the water flow over its surface as to not be very efficient. 



My plan would be to completely dissamble the rudder, inspect, replace bolts as needed and then just reassemble as originally, rebedding all in new compound.  Since the wood filler pieces and bronze straps are so close to the finished surface I don't know how to fair properly without adding sustantially to the thickness of the rudder. 



I thank you for your comments on the construction and planned maintenance of this rudder. 



Michael #133 Lorrie Rose