Rudder bolt problems?

[Bert 26x]

Have other owners experienced either of these problems and what did you do about it?:1) breakage of the bolt that holds the rudder control bar and engine control bar. Mine sheered off this past weekend in only 10-12 kn wind/ 3 ft seas on broad reach. Concerned either '96 vintage rudders are too big or heavy, or the bolts are under-engineered for torque?2)rudder upper bracket bolts loose because they were not drilled thru the plywood molded on inside of hull.

 

[Mike]

Corrosion?

Mine Sheared off too. I attributed mine to corrosion. Saltwater, stainless hardware, and aluminum rudder brackets will get electrolytic corrosion going.You can try to separate the stainless steel from the aluminum brackets with nylon washers and lightly coating the stainless hardware with corrosion inhibitors. Also, use 316 stainless hardware. You can tell when this corrosion is going on when you see white crusty junk building up on the bolt head and washers. My bolt actually welded itself to the rudder bracket. I had to heat up the bracket to get the bolt to come loose. So watch out for corrosion.