Bent Rudder on a Ranger 28.

[sailinhsquamish]

Hello Friends.


I have an opportunity to save a beautiful * Ranger 28 from being scrapped. It Came onto some rocks and did ok with one major exception. *The rudder is bent a bit. Enough that it James onto the hull and *can't to all the way. I want to repair or replace to save it. Any suggestions?*


Thanks*

Richard*

 

[Sandy Stone]

I had a friend who bent the rudder on his Ranger 29 (entirely different boat, but still). He removed it and brought it to a machine shop, where they were able to straighten the shaft enough to be used.

 

[jcb2]

It sounds like the stock is bent. So you will have to remove the rudder because any attempt to fix it in place will damage the boat itself. Unfortunately any attempt to straighten it will require a lot of heat or hydraulic cold bending and both will destroy the blade. After fixing the stock and rebuilding the blade, you're better off just replacing it. I suggest you get a new one from Ruddercraft. They make top quality replacement rudders from solid HDPE over stainless steel. Call Joel Santarone, (866) 400-2204 (Office) or 208-375-2204 (Shop) or ruddercraft.com. I've bought a couple of them from him and I am very satisfied. Don't be afraid to do the labor yourself in the removal and reinstallation; it's relatively easy.

 

[sailaway78]

Rudder repair

I bent mine a couple years ago with a hard grounding. It is not an extremely difficult job to fix it but, it ain't easy either. What I did was to cut our one side of the blade, pretty close to the edges. Then cut out the fiberglass straps that bonded it to the post. Pulled the bent rudder stock out the top. Believe me you do not want to try to straighten the post. But a new SS stock is not that expensive. On my boat, the quadrant was so corroded it was impossible to get it unbolted from the post, so I had to cut the cockpit floor out, and take out from above., That did eliminate the problem of digging a big hole, or raising the boat way up. Put in the new post, then reglassed the post to the blade. Glassed the side of the blade back in place. I then cut some one inch holes, tow front to back, and a bunch of pairs about every six inches top to bottom. Started at the bottom and poured in the foam. It has been nearly three years now and it is still perfect with no problem. I think I have a few pics somewhere in my computer. If you want, drop me a PM and I will forward them to you.