Rudder problems

Hi Richard,

I have not done this job myself but the previous owner of Ronar M had the rudder removed, split and the internal metalwork beefed up and rebuilt. From this I take it that there is some metalwork in the original spec. I have had no trouble since, though I now have oil/grease seeping form the gearbox in the lazarette and plan to have it off this winter and get Parsons/Mathway to service it – new oil seals at least. Good luck with your rudder,
Cheers, Trevor

Richard – that’s sobering news about your rudder.

In case you missed it, there was an earlier posting about rudder problems, including a photo of a dissected rudder down towards the bottom of the thread. See here.

Please keep us informed about what you learn. This is a project we plan to take on some day – hopefully as preventative maintenance rather than a repair after a catostrophic failure like yours!

Marilyn

Richard (or anyone else who has repaired their rudder) – can you report on what happened with your rudder repair? Any advice for those of us who plan to tackle this job before the rudder fails?

We hope to work on our rudder this winter. We are trying to decide if we should haul the boat, remove the rudder and split it open so we can try to dry it out over the winter and then do the repair in the spring. If the boat overwinters on the hard, then the hull will freeze occasionally during our Seattle winter, and we are worried that the freeze/thaw cycles will be bad if there is a lot of water absorbed into the hull (due to blisters, cracks, whatever)

If we plan to tear into the rudder so that we can replace the metal interior frame, it is important that the rudder has time to dry out? Or will we be doing so much destruction that most fiberglass will be new anyway, so it doesn’t matter?

Any advice welcome.

Cheers – Marilyn and Van