TMoran/Sears/ladd/rudder problems
Mr. Moran; It is good to know that you used your head in an incident as some folks would have freaked. You will find that some of us too have been there and will help you. You were not alone in this situation as I too had one of those rudders to replace and my customer had to motor in. His basically broke in front in a major shippiing channel. I was not happy about traveling all day to get to the boat but he is my customer and I will take care of those folks. Mr. Sears, If you want a new rudder, please send me an email with details and I will get one to you if that is the case.. For the record, Mr. Sears bought his boat from me and if I do provide a rudder, then it is due to him being my customer. Mr. Sears, please keep my identity secret for respect to me and this forum. Thanks I am familiar with the failures of the rudders and other causes that have caused them to fail. Heck, I had the first failure while demonstrating the boat, so I cut the head off and drilled a new hole and placed it back ont the boat. As for it tilting up, nope it could not but at least I was sailing. Helps to carry tools to include a battery operated drill on board which I recommend to all. As for Mr. Ladd's comments, I know the facts better than him as for pricing and failures. If you guys want more on the subjuect, then ask me. As for what happenned, here are the facts as I know them. There was to be a wooden block at the top or head of the the rudder. The vendor advised an employee placed it at the bottom in error during a batch that was made. Hunter became aware after several failures to include mine and jumped on the situation. Lets say they had the vendor in their office and that is all I going to say as I think someone got a royal butt chewing by Hunter. How many were affected, we do not know. Has there been other failures, the answer is yes over the years but again due to employee error in manufacuting; however, the amount of rudders made over the years compared to the few that broke is minimal but at least when the facts were known in detail to Hunter, they will try to correct the situation immediately. By the way, they are going back to the old way of making the rudders and we should see an end of that. As for the cracking on top of the rudder heads, what is happenning is the foam that is in the top of the rudder is too close to the top and when the heat hits it, it expanded and a crack occours. There should be structural marine putty there to prevent that. That is fixable but not really a structural item to contend with. Simply clean out the part affected and put two part epoxy in or some type of marine putty. Sand and then spray the gel coat back on. Any rudder abuse of course to include dropping it onto the concrete ramp for example is not covered as some folks would think. I have seen some pictures where warranty claims have been made and you would tend to wonder when the bottom of the rudder was damaged as a result of the owner accidentially dropping it while on the trailer onto the ramp. I hope this clears this matter up but the biggest thing you guys need to remember, Hunter Marine does not like this happenning and they try to take care of you. If you ever think otherwise, then get in touch with me and I will investigate and go to bat for you if that be the case. Enough said and gentlemen, start your engines and go sailing.
