11.0 Rudder Failure

[wwillis]

My 11.0 S2 is a 1985 model. I am the original owner and have sailed it on the Chesapeake Bay under just about all conditions. I live at Gatling Pointe on the Pagan River (south side of the James) just outside Smithfield, VA. We have a 65 slip marina in the development where we keep the boat. We pulled out of the slip on Memorial Day during a Blessing of the Fleet parade of boats. I immediately realized that the steering was not working. Suspecting a cabling problem, I got out the emergency tiller. That turned the wheel but not the rudder. After some difficulty, we got back safely into a slip. After some inspection, it was obvious that the rudder was no longer secured to the shaft. The cabling to the wheel was fine. I was referred to a website called new rudders.com which is a company called Foss Foam Products in Florida. They advised me to have a new rudder made rather than attempting a repair. They said that they can make a new one ,but need the exact measurements on the shaft and the rudder. With a diver in the water, I started the task of removing the defective rudder. After removing the wood cover board in the middle of the stern compartment, I removed the four bolts holding the quardrant. Those came out without any problem. I next loosened the bolts holding the cabling on the quardrant. I then pried the quardrant apart with a large screwdriver and attempted to push the shafft down. No movement. The diver found that there was a plated on the bottom end of the shaft that was bolted to the hull. He took that off and we tried again to push the shaft down. No movement. I next took the bolts completely off the ends of the cabling so that I could see what was below the quardrant. I found a sleeve that the shaft went through that was secured to a wooden slab above the hull. There was what appeared to be a "ridge" on the shaft that I thought might have to be aligned with a slot in the sleeve. There was also about a half inch frictionscrew through the sleeve. I attempted to back that out, but couldn't get it to turn. No luck on finding a slot in the sleeve. Still no downward movement of the shaft. I then confered with a couple other boat owners. The conclusion was that our attempts to push the shaft down had put pressure on the friction screw and the "ridge" on the shaft was in fact a "key" wedged in a slot in the shaft. We then pulled up on the shaft and had the diver push up on the rudder. After much struggling, we were able to remove the "wedge key" and back out the friction screw. That enabled me to then push the shaft down and we were able to remove the rudder. I found about a half-inch crack along the leading edge of the rudder as well as a crack in the top of the rudder. The shaft "free wheels" inside the rudder.

I would appreciate comments from anyone with experience with this kind of problem.

Wayne Willis

 

[BobM]

Unfortunately this isn't all that uncommon an occurrence. Typical rudder manufacture, including Foss, involves welding some fingers onto the post. Water gets into the rudder, it freezes and cracks further, then the welds rust and fail.

Foss is the number one manufacturer of replacement rudders, but do yourself a favor and make them design your replacement differently. Either that or fix your current rudder and do it differently. Look at there site for how they construct them.

http://newrudders.com/?page_id=12

I just don't understand why they still make this inferior design. It must be for cost. If it were me, I would take a single sheet of stainless, cut out some of the interior to save weight and then make a continuous weld down the whole length they contact. Of course you would have to jump around when you weld to let it cool down.

My last boat had a rudder constructed like this. The damn thing was waterlogged for years. It isn't uncommon to have to drill a hole in a water logged rudder in the winter then fill it in the spring. I patched cracks in it the first year I had it. I forgot to drill one year and got to patch cracks again. I finally re-caulked around the junction of the tube and the fiberglass and that seemed to do the trick. I was also concerned that it was condensation in the hollow tube. I was happy to find the my rudder post is solid on my 9.2A for that reason.

 

[BobM]

Another important thing is closed cell foam. Open cell foam makes your rudder a big sponge. So if you decide to cut it open, weld some new fingers (or an improved design), then rebuild it be sure to use a closed cell foam. They make two part foams that are pourable. You could rebuild the fingers, space it out in half the shell, close up the shell with fiberglass then cut a hole and pour some foam in. I bet the whole repair woudn't cost you $200 in materials including the welding.

 

[jrowan]

I would agree that rebuilding your current rudder would be advisable. For one thing you don't have that much to loose $$ wise by rebuilding the interior core structure. Use epoxy such as West Systems epxy caulk to seal the two halves back together, then glass the seams to make sure water can't migrate in. At least you know that your current rudder fits your boat, was designed to fit the quadrant & rudder tube sleeve, etc.

 

[Jtoben]

Could you update us with your results of the solution to the rudder fix?