[Public-List] Personal Introduction & Rudder Post Clarification

Peter McEvoy peter.t.mcevoy at gmail.com
Wed May 16 11:34:33 PDT 2012


Hi Everybody,

This is my first post, so I'll take a minute to introduce myself and my
Alberg 30, "Friends". I bought the boat on the first of January in
Sausalito, CA and moved her to Berkeley Marina, where she lives now. I am
not certain as to the hull number, since the builder's plate is missing,
however the sail number is 268. My paperwork when I bought the boat
declared it as a 1965 boat, however after rooting around in my record books
there is one bill of sale that states the boat is a 1967. If 1967 is
correct, then it is possible that my sail number 268 is the hull number, as
that would fit into the ranges listed
here<http://alberg30.org/boat/numbers.html>
.

So, it's Peter McEvoy here with "Friends", possibly hull #268. As for
myself, I work in fine art bronze casting in Berkeley, CA. I'd like to
start casting boat parts for my boat, and potentially in the future could
cast Alberg 30 parts for others- let me know if you or others have
interest. The foundry deals with silicon bronze, which I've read is a good
choice for most boat parts, including underwater.

My first project will be replacing my rudder. I was sailing with some
friends on the bay this past Saturday, heeling over nicely on our way back
from Angel Island, when I felt a snap and the tiller went "limp". I figured
a shaft of some sort sheared, disconnecting the tiller from the rudder.
After getting a tow back to the slip, I dipped myself under the transom and
felt around with my feet- pretty certain the rudder is gone entirely. The
rudder post seemed to extend down from the keel about a foot with nothing
around it. My hope is that the rudder shoe and gudgeons are still on the
hull so that I can copy them with a rubber mold and cast them in silicon
bronze. Will be diving to check for that soon. Anyway, I had a few
questions regarding the Alberg rudders.

1. Can I remove the gudgeons and rudder shoe while the boat is underwater?
The main risk I see here is junk growing into the threaded fiberglass while
the parts are removed for copying. I want to copy the parts before haul out
to avoid excessive yard use fees.

2. Is silicon bronze suitable for the rudder posts? I've found silicon
bronze to be much softer than aluminum bronze (marine bronze). I read that
aluminum bronze, however, can "de-aluminize" underwater unless you add 4%
nickel to the mix. I'd like to go with all silicon bronze, since I have
easy material access there.

3. I've attached an image to see if my understanding of the rudder post
positioning is correct. I'm mainly confused about the long upper post with
the two bends- why doesn't the lowermost section go 90 degrees around the
rudder? It seems incorrect to have it going toward the middle pintle.

Sorry for the long post! I figure it's better than 4 replies of
clarification.

-Peter McEvoy


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