[Public-List] corroded rudder

[David Scherrer]

I rebuilt my 1967 boats rudder just about a month ago. Not too difficult but does involve a little bit of lifting and impact hammer work….

You will not have to drop the rudder/shaft from the boat in order to remove the rudder itself. This a very unique design that Alberg came up with.
The shaft coming down from the tiller is solid bronze bent around the top leading edge and only extends down about 2 ft of the rudder, attached by a series of five counter sunk, large bronze threaded bolts.
Angle/turn the rudder as far as you can and brace to get to the bolts, then use intact hammer to loosen the slotted bolts. Probably have to remove a fair amount of paint and glass filler. You will have to replace the bolts as they are slotted and its very hard to avoid damaging the heads.

The pin joint half way down is just like a hinge on a door in many ways. The pin was worn on mine so I replaced with a shortened carriage bronze bolt (cut off the threads). Also ground down the squared section at the top of carriage bolt below cap to make round, easy to do..
You will have to remove the unit in order to get to the pin, Do this same time as removing the upper bolts from rudder..

The bottom shoe does have a pin in the base that can be easily replace once you lift the rudder off. I do recommend replacing the large bolt in the bottom shoe that is screwed into the keel as well.

Use epoxy with silicon micro ballons with all your replacement bolts both for the five above and one in the shoe.This will greatly improve the threads grip.
The nuts and bolts in the hinge were in fine shape on my boat so I used them again.

I do recommend investing in a impact hammer..it will make a world of difference. Also a decent ratchet set.

The rudder on my boat was a solid fiberglass material, kinda like Bondo. The bronze bolts were simply threaded into this material..made me little nervous, thus the adding of micro balloons.

This is a fairly robust rudder system. It would take a lot for a complete failure in my opinion. But some rudders were made from solid wood, other a mix and others all glass and resin.

I'm in the North West if thats helpful.

Feel free to ask any questions…I would like to be helpful if I can.

David S.




> On Mar 12, 2021, at 4:11 PM, Stephen Gwyn via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> There's a lot of slop in the middle fitting.
> 
> Underway, it's more of a clunk when I tack and the load shifts
> to the other side. When this happened 15 years ago, it was fixed by
> putting a bushing in the shoe.
> 
> The yard is also not convinced there isn't more corrosion a long the shaft.
> They reluctantly recommending rebuilding the rudder.
> Reluctantly, because they're extremely busy right now and don't need extra work.
> 
> While a lot of the sailing I do is in light wind, I do seem to end up
> pounding through 4 foot waves a few times a year. I've never fussed
> about the boat breaking. Knowing I've lost that much metal a
> key spot will not make me calm.
> 
> SG
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