[Public-List] Rudder Repair on #235

[crufone at comcast.net]

Richard, 

Mike Lehman suggested removing the rudder to better accomplish this work and Michael Grosh suggested to me that those bolts at the upper rudder stock need to be tight.  I am going to follow their advice along with Don Campbell's. 



If there is any looseness in those bolts there has been water penetration and subsequent corrosion.  Unless the assembly is disassembled you can not be certain of the condition of the bolts or the state of corrosion. 



I plan to make my rudder rock solid, but in a way that I can service it later if I need to.  Using epoxies to strengthen the upper bolts might be a a solution, but makes later maintenance troublesome.  Even if you can get the Epoxy in there around the bolts the likely hood of corrosion and dirt in that location will decrease the strength of the Epoxy bond significantly, perhaps by 80%. 



I would NOT increase the tapped hole in the lower rudder stock to 11/16".  It might be best to remain with 1/2" or 9/16" at the largest.  One solution would be to keep the pivot original size and to either braze the hole in the shoe and re-bore or to fashion a bushing for the shoe to bring back to a round hole for the new pivot. 



Each of these components plays a role to secure the rudder and they all need to be carefully addressed and made whole again.  There is a bushing just below the tiller head which should be inspected and repaired as well. 



Good luck and keep in touch.  I plan to send phots to George as I progress with my repair on my boat. 



Michael, #133 Lorrie Rose