rudder advice needed

[wayne lentz]

I have had my 2001 Hunter 260 with wheel steering for just about a month. We spent this weekend on the lake with friends. We sailed into a lagoon and anchored. After some swimming and lunch we prepared to pull up anchor and leave. At this time the wind picked up and caught us unprepared. The boat had drifted in reverse and ran aground. It didn't feel like much at the helm but when we were getting the boat ready to drydock I noticed the the rudder would not come up from it's lowered postion. Then I noticed that that stainless steel bracket that holds the rudder was bent towards the port side of the boat. Do I need to remove the entire rudder post for repair? Will I find someone that can straighten the bracket? Or do I have to look at replacing the entire steering mechanism. The only way I got the rudder up was by moving the wheel/rudder hard to port so that the rudder would miss the rudder shaft. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm really bummed out.......

 

[Mark Cooper]

Did the post bend? Or just the bracket?

I have a 240 so don't know the differences in wheel steering vs rudder steering; but the bracket comes off relatively simple on the 240. I would think it had to come off so it could be taken to a machine shop to have it straightened correctly.Don't hate me for giving advice a little late, but we always make a habit of raising the rudder when we're anchored. A benefit of this is that the boat doesn't seem to "sail" around the anchor as much.