Great Sail and then Bang!! Rudder snapped??

[shanker]

Was out yesterday with a friend for a sail. Winds were <2 knots. They quickly picked up to a steady 8 - 10 knots. Got the sails up and we were off on a starboard tack. Beautiful! Just then BANG! Sounded like a shotgun went off behind me. My Ida Sailor rudder snapped off right below the bracket. Soooo disappointing. We motored in and I'm very disappointed. This rudder was a selling feature when I purchased the boat and I've only sailed a handful of times. The fracture looks very odd, like there may have been a defect in the plastic. I have some failure analysis experience but mostly with metal. Had friends come up from Calgary to sail on the weekend as a test, If they enjoyed the weekend we were considering chartering in the San Juan's in September. Oh well....

Has this happened to anyone with one of these rudders? I'll post some pics later today.

 

[sailaway_H36]

Contact Idasailor

Contact Idasailor. Same thing happened to me in my previous boat (macgregor 26). They may repalce it for free. In my case they gave me a good discount as I was not the first owner.

 

[Hugh Straub]

I wonder if there is a common thread to broken rudders as the issue seems to be recurring. I can imagine the forces on the rudder just below the rudder head fitting are substantial, especially if the rudder is not in the fully down position. Do any of the folks who have had this problem know for sure if their rudder was fully down at the time of failure?

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[kenkindy1]

I have an IDA Sailor rudder on my 240. That plastic is substantial. I can't imagine the force needed to snap it like that. I wouldn't think the lateral forces from sailing would do it. I suspect a bad batch.