Have You Ever Wondered What Your Rudder Looked Like On Your 40.5

[MetricMountie]

Last season (2021) just prior to the boat going in the water the yard found some play in my lower rudder bearings on my 1995-40.5 and informed me of this. On checking the rudder after going on the trailer for the long Canadian East Coast winter I checked the rudder and as indicated I found some play, enough that I enquired on this forum as to how much play was too much. On receiving wise advice on the subject I decided to drop the rudder and have new bearings machined. I received the required Hunter engineering drawings from the Hunter Owners Association and found a local shop with the CNC machine and required materials to do the work. Today the rudder was removed with the help of a friend, the entire operation went well. Attached are photos of the rudder and associated bearings. New units will be done in the coming week and as suggested by the Owners Association I'll be measuring the rudder stock (which by the way is fiberglass end to end) and taking the old bearings with me to the machinist for measurement and comparison to the engineering drawings. Hopefully the re-install will go as smoothly as the removal.

 

[smokey73]

WOW, I am really surprised your rudder shaft is fiberglass. I have a 1994 Hunter 40.5 and my shaft is a stainless steel pipe with no fiberglass at all. The steel pipe is uniform in diameter the entire lenght.

Here is a picture of the old rudder I removed (blue) and the new one rebuilt on the old rudder shaft (white). I was very happy with the rebuilt rudder from Foss Foam in Williston FL. The last pictures is the new rudder installed. The only hard part was breaking the bolts free from the radial drive without damaging the existing radial drive. I was successful by the way and could reuse the radial drive.

 

[MetricMountie]

Good Morning Smokey, just wondering if your lower rudder bearings looked the same as the one's I have on mine. The advice I got from Joe @ The Owners Association was not to simply make the new bearings from the Hunter Engineering drawings that he supplied but to take the old ones for comparison and measurement as well as measuring the rudder shaft. Thought I'd enquire as to what you found since your stock was stainless as opposed to fibreglass.

 

[smokey73]

@MetricMountie I did not have any play in my rudder before I removed it and I do not have an play after the new rudder was installed. Reinstallation was a lot easier than I expected and since I was reusing my same shaft and had been able to save my radial drive it cost a lot less than I had budgeted. Actually saved some boat $$. My reason for replacing my rudder was because of water intrusion into the foam core and some distortion of the foam (rudder had concave portion on the stbd side). Foss Foam rebuilt the rudder around the original stainless shaft for less than half the price of a new rudder and since I could drive it down and pick it up in the back of my Honda Odyssey I only had to pay for a little over a tank of gas for "shipping"

I was really surprised they changed to fiberglass rudder shafts on the same model. Mine is a 1994 produced I believe towards the very end of 1993.

 

[MetricMountie]

Smokey, tell you the truth I was a bit confused by the fibreglass rudder shaft (stock) as you were. We have a 1996 model sister ship in our Club and I spoke to the owner at his place yesterday afternoon, I told him about the rudder removal and he was also a bit surprised at the shaft (stock) construction as his is stainless as well. Will keep you informed as to how things play out with the new bearings and the re-install in the coming weeks. Splash day for us is May 28th on the high tide, we have to crane in here as we have no travel lift facilities.