Inner metal structure on 28' Oday Rudder Question

[fourwhitesocks]

We were wondering about the integrity of the ruder on my 1986 28' Oday. We removed it in the fall at haul out and cut into one side to be able to be able to examine the metal 'bars or skeleton' that runs crosswise and connects to the rudder post itself. We were surprised to see that the cross pieces were a dissimilar metal (look like steel) then the stainless rudder post. The condition looks great though, even at the welds and we don't really see any reason to change anything other than make sure it's nice and dry and re-fiberglass the examination area and add barrier and bottom paint.

* My question is .... is it weird that we found dissimilar metals on the cross pieces? Is this something that Oday did from the factory? (seems odd) I guess there is a chance that this rudder is not original but it still could be.

** Also has anyone ever heard of Oday 28' this is a 1986 rudder coming apart at the welds inside there or any issues with the integrity of the original rudder itself?

Any info would be great... let me know your thoughts! Thank you!
Amy

 

[dmax]

The rudder was made by Foss Foam and they did use mild steel attached to the stainless rudder post in the 80's - they have long since switched to all stainless. I don't know of any that have come apart at the weld but I have replaced the rudders on two 80's boats (Cat 30 and O'Day 35) because water got in and I lost confidence in them because of the mild steel - wouldn't want to lose steering.

 

[fourwhitesocks]

@dmax Thank you for that! Agreed on not wanting to lose steering!

 

[Clutch Cargo]

It would be great if you could post some pics of your rudder showing the structure.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I don't recall seeing any posts about rudder failures on O'Day 28's. That doesn't mean that the ones out there aren't compromised.