H23 Rudder Housing Welds

[Steve677]

Hi folks. Check your welds! The weld on the port side of the rudder housing failed on my H23. I noticed that I was having a horrible time trying to keep her on a close reach with the wind off the port; even a beam reach was problematic. Everything was more or less normal on starboard tacks. I fought with her for a while before deciding to drop all sail in the lee of an island to go swimming. When I went to drop the motor in the water I noticed the weld to port had given way. Roughly eighteen inches or so was split and the rudder favored port quite a bit as a result. I tightened up the pivot bolt to the point where I could use it well enough to get home using the iron spinnaker. Is there anyone out there that has faced this before or am I just the lucky one? Guess I will be looking for a good man with a TIG welder and a steady hand to repair her this week. I think I will have him weld some straps on her to reinforce her on both sides… I might also drill through all and pin the rudder down while I am at it. Does anyone have some advice to share on that thought?

 

[Mike Misko]

H23 Rudder

Lots of stuff in the archives about the H23 rudder design. It pops up by design when it hits something. I'll live with the occasional unnecessary release to keep this safety feature. I replaced the cam cleat that holds haul-down line, and it is working well. I was careful to stay close to the breaking strength of the original cleat (around 400 lbs, if memory serves).

 

[Steve677]

Thanks Mike

I did read through the threads in the archives. I found arguments for and against pinning the rudder down. In the end, I think I'll go with caution and leave her rigged as she was designed, lame as that seems sometimes. I hope that I never hit anything. I just don't see how the cam cleat will let go before I rip the pintles off the stearn anyhow. Thanks for sharing your opinion.