Update, my son cracked the drive wheel while tightening the bolts Rudy is going to look to see if he has one in the morning , 5.15 hr road trip if he does . There is one with exact part number and exact patent number for 105 on eBay, but the shaft hole is to small.
30 ft O'day grounded, bent rudder post
- Thread starter Robert Stevenson
- Start date
I will take some next time I'm there , would have done it sooner, but I'm not much of a techie, although I spend hours a,day researching thing online, I'm sure my son can show me how. Thanks for the response.
Robert,
I replaced the rudder on my ‘86 ODay 31 about 5 years ago. I needed another person outside to help me while I worked on the inside. The original was coming apart and had obviously been bad for a long time. The Maine surveyor and my insurance company insisted I replace it.
I had the boat hauled out and placed on a steel cradle. The bottom of the keel was about a foot off the ground. I disconnected the steering cables from the quadrant. Next I thoroughly soaked all bolts with a good penetrating oil (Kroil is best but may be hard to find). There is a large bolt that passes through the quadrant halves and the rudder stock. I dug a 2’ Hole below the rudder and temporarily supported it before removing the stock shear bolt and quadrant halves.
I bought a new rudder from Ruddercraft made of all stainless steel covered by HDPE. It cost me $2K plus shipping. They have the plans for it. It is probably the same for a 30 footer but send your old one for them to check to be sure.
The original rudder was made by Foss Foam and had a stainless steel stock made from 2” schedule 40 pipe but carbon steel webbing covered by gel-covered haves fiberglassed together( not a very sustainable design).
The only issue was that new one was made from schedule 80 pipe so my emergency tiller had to be replaced. They made a new one for me that fit the thicker pipe. They have plans for that too. The new rudder is made much better than the original and because it is solid HDPE (high density polyethylene) cast over all stainless steel welded web and stock, it cannot get “waterlogged” and break down.
Just be careful to get the hard plastic ring bushing on the stock correctly before reinstalling the quadrant. If it’s not in the right position the stock can’t go in. This bushing bears the weight of the rudder and resists wear from turning.
The stock penetrates the boat through a fiberglass tube that’s about 2 3/4” in diameter from the hull up to the opening in the cockpit seat . It is only open where the bushing and quadrant are located well above the waterline.
It’s likely that this tube was over stressed and cracked when the rudder stock was bent. With the rudder removed, I don’t think it would be difficult to somehow plug the bottom of the tube with a 2” rubber pipe plug from a plumbing supply then fill the tube and search for any leaks below the quadrant. If that doesn’t work, plug the top also, wrap a pipe repair clamp over the quadrant opening then put some air pressure and check with a 50/50 dish detergent to water solution. Bubbles will form at the leak points. The repair then would be cleaning the area with acetone then fiberglass wrap and West system epoxy and hardener.
I replaced the rudder on my ‘86 ODay 31 about 5 years ago. I needed another person outside to help me while I worked on the inside. The original was coming apart and had obviously been bad for a long time. The Maine surveyor and my insurance company insisted I replace it.
I had the boat hauled out and placed on a steel cradle. The bottom of the keel was about a foot off the ground. I disconnected the steering cables from the quadrant. Next I thoroughly soaked all bolts with a good penetrating oil (Kroil is best but may be hard to find). There is a large bolt that passes through the quadrant halves and the rudder stock. I dug a 2’ Hole below the rudder and temporarily supported it before removing the stock shear bolt and quadrant halves.
I bought a new rudder from Ruddercraft made of all stainless steel covered by HDPE. It cost me $2K plus shipping. They have the plans for it. It is probably the same for a 30 footer but send your old one for them to check to be sure.
The original rudder was made by Foss Foam and had a stainless steel stock made from 2” schedule 40 pipe but carbon steel webbing covered by gel-covered haves fiberglassed together( not a very sustainable design).
The only issue was that new one was made from schedule 80 pipe so my emergency tiller had to be replaced. They made a new one for me that fit the thicker pipe. They have plans for that too. The new rudder is made much better than the original and because it is solid HDPE (high density polyethylene) cast over all stainless steel welded web and stock, it cannot get “waterlogged” and break down.
Just be careful to get the hard plastic ring bushing on the stock correctly before reinstalling the quadrant. If it’s not in the right position the stock can’t go in. This bushing bears the weight of the rudder and resists wear from turning.
The stock penetrates the boat through a fiberglass tube that’s about 2 3/4” in diameter from the hull up to the opening in the cockpit seat . It is only open where the bushing and quadrant are located well above the waterline.
It’s likely that this tube was over stressed and cracked when the rudder stock was bent. With the rudder removed, I don’t think it would be difficult to somehow plug the bottom of the tube with a 2” rubber pipe plug from a plumbing supply then fill the tube and search for any leaks below the quadrant. If that doesn’t work, plug the top also, wrap a pipe repair clamp over the quadrant opening then put some air pressure and check with a 50/50 dish detergent to water solution. Bubbles will form at the leak points. The repair then would be cleaning the area with acetone then fiberglass wrap and West system epoxy and hardener.
Thanks for your response, someone who did the same repair with almost the boat is valuable info. I don't under the stock that your talking about. There would be no room for anybearing or bushing around the steering quadrant and rudder post ?
The used rudder was actually in pretty good shape , better then the photos, when does that ever happen lol. The rudder post on the eBay rudder was a,tiny bit bigger , this caused the quadrant to crack when my son was tightening it. So a machine shop welded it, now I need to fiberglass in the upper rudder tube that the boatyard messed up .
I just reread your post , mine did not have a hard plastic ring , when we removed the steering quadrant ?
The million dollar question is this. When looking at the interesting diagram on Edsons website which has 2600 I believe boats . The diagram for the O'day 28 /30 says may need a stuffing box bearing , indicating shoved in the rudder tube below the steering quadrant. The helpful poster who replaced his 31 ft O'day rudder states that the bottom rudder tube is well above the waterline and stops at the steering quadrant .Thus indicating no issues with water intrusion and no mention of a bearing in the lower rudder tube to prevent water intrusion. Tomorrow morning I am glassing in the upper rudder tube, which is light duty and just seems to help keep the rudder tube lined up . If there is some type of stuffing bearing needed then once I glass upper tube , the rudder would have to come out to install it . Anyone who has knowledge of this bearing being or not being there please chime in because this boat is hopefully finally going in the water this wknd. The whole assembly seems pretty simple now , not scarey like in the beginning except for that nice but confusing diagram on the Edson site. Kind of like getting married and the preacher says I now pronounce you man and wife and she may or may not have sex with you, ie your boat may or may not sink .
The boat is finally back in the water, thanks to all who gave helpful tips. Now I need your help again, the water pump comes on with the switch, even seems to pump a bit of water to the clear water filter with the screen , but not enough to pump into the faucets. It used to work and when I was pumping out all of the pink antifreeze it pumped it all out but when I filled the tank it won't pump , how do I trouble shoot? So far I cleaned the dirty filter,what next ?
Will check those today , but since both stopped all at once and the clear filter is taking forever to try to fill , I think it's something else.
Could be a clog in the line going to the pump. The pump will stay running if the pressure in the line is below the switch setting on the pump. Is there a screw in the top of the screen filter upstream of the pump, you may need to bleed the air out of the line to prime the pump.
There should be a small filter just before the line going into your pump. It is a coarse screen to protect the pump from debris in the tank. There should be a way to remove the screen to clean it. Try un-clamping the hose to either the pump or the filter to see if water is freely flowing in the hose. If not and the tank has some water in it you either have a valve shut off, a kink in the hose, a clog in the hose, or a clog in the tank outlet. Follow the line to the tank to see if a kink. If it is a clog try a turkey baster to blow air into the hose to dislodge any obstruction. A bicycle pump or dinghy pump might work if you can get a nozzle to fit in the hose, otherwise try duct tape to connect the pump to the hose. If you have crud in your tank it could be a problem if you don't have a clean-out port on top of the tank. Usually the fill hose going into the tank is a pretty big diameter so you might be able to pump it out with a shop wet vac and hopefully get any crud out. A pump failure is certainly possible also but they will usually fail by not shutting off because the check valves won't hold the pressure. Not pumping water at all and hearing the pump run seems to me to be an obstruction.
Sounds good , thanks for the tips, I actually have a?small dewalt air compressor maybe I can clear the lines with that , I really think I messed it up myself, because the pink antifreeze had run out and I was working on something else boat was on land and I left the pump on running with tanks already empty longer then I should have .
So , Im going to try all of those suggestions, and very much appreciate them but what will typically go wrong with a water system if the operator left the pump running for quite some time after the system was completely empty ?
