Do I "need" 1/2" rudder gudgeons?

[Gene Neill]

View attachment 120802

Reference the broken pintal casting a few posts above, the new toy arrived today. Glad I went with a whole new rudder instead of just ordering a new rudder casting. Will take a closer look at my gudgeons though.

Nice!! Did you order through CD, or through Ruddercraft?

Don, my existing tiller is practically brand new, and it's teak, which I prefer over laminate. AND it already has a pin epoxied in place for the autotiller. Will this tiller work with the new Ruddercraft rudder, or will I be forced to use the laminate tiller? I notice your tiller is hardwood (hickory? ash?) but it looks like you have spacers installed on either side of it?

 

[CaptDon01]

Gene,
My tiller is oak, but your existing tiller will work just fine. As you could see in the photos, I drilled another hole a little further forward for the Rudder-Craft kick-up rudder. I use the same autopilot pin on the tiller that I use for the fixed rudder. Yes, the pin is slightly not square, but I haven't had any noticeable difference in the operation of the autopilot. But, I have several spare pins,(you have to buy a bag of 5 or 6, can't just buy one, so let me know if you need one), so one day I will install another pin. As the photo also shows, I used some thin fiberglass stock to make a spacer on the tiller where the heavy duty straps are. Not really needed, but it just relieved the pressure so I can remove the tiller easier for trailering. The tiller goes in the cover and is stored in the cabin because the rudder never comes off the back of the boat anymore.

Don

 

[RJD]

Nice!! Did you order through CD, or through Ruddercraft?

Gene, I ordered it through Ruddercraft.

 

[Gene Neill]

Excellent, thanks guys!

I just bit the bullet and placed a Visa-melting order with CD, for the kick-up rudder with 1/2" gudgeons ... and all new standing rigging, including split backstay and quick-release Johnson levers for the forestay and the forward lowers.

Ouch. The Admiral has now put a freeze on all further boat spending until fiscal 2017.

(Good thing she doesn't know about the self tailing winches I got on BOGO from West Marine last week. I'm gonna keep them in the box hidden away until July, and then give them to her for her birthday.)

 

[CaptDon01]

Gene, send me a message with your address, (I know I got it hidden somewhere), so I can send you those heavy duty tiller straps.
You're going to LOVE that new Rudder-Craft kick-up rudder!

Don

 

[bushav]

Congrats!

Lane

 

[CloudDiver]

Gene ,
You're a bastard coated bastard with a bastard filling... Good work!

 

[ShotgunSlim]

Congratulations Gene!! Now get that video camera out and start updating that YouTube channel.

 

[Gene Neill]

Congratulations Gene!! Now get that video camera out and start updating that YouTube channel.

One new video uploaded just for you, Slim!

 

[Gene Neill]

Well, fiddlesticks.

I couldn't have been so lucky as to have the bronze plate in my transom for the gudgeon bolts to thread into. When I experimented with removing them, a couple bolts just spun, one bolt readily started to come out but stuck hard after about 1/2", and another bolt simply would not budge at all. I stopped that point. I'll have to install an inspection port (right where my favorite cup holder is, dammit) to access the upper gudgeon, and the lower gudgeon is below the cockpit floor, so it will require some coal-miner work back in "the cavern" to get at it. Should be fun.

Sigh. I haven't gotten a shipping notice for the rudder yet, not that it will do me any good until I get this done.

 

[Gene Neill]

WOOHOO!!

I found the lower gudgeon bolts, and not way way back in some impossible-to-reach crevice in the depths of the port side cavern where I thought they would be. I looked there first, and had a pretty good "oh sh*t" moment when I couldn't find them. Next I pulled out the cooler step and looked way back under there, hoping I WOULDN'T see them, 'cause only a squirrel could possibly get back in there to access them. Thankfully, I didn't see them.

Well the last place you look is always where you find stuff, right? So, I stood on my head (practically), and looked upside down into the recesses of the starboard lazarette and BINGO, there they were, smiling up at me! EASY to get at!! (relatively anyway)