Rudder length on shoal draft 33s

[Ed Schenck]

No ball bearings Bill. Just an aluminum collar riding on that block. It probably is plastic but looks like marble. I never had the floating rudder problem. But I guess I never looked closely since the rebuild. Would be very easy to put a split collar under the shelf. Maybe riding on a piece of starboard or just some cloth and epoxy on bottom of shelf. Did you notice in the pictures how the shelf was strengthened with long threaded rod?

 

[jibseaman]

Re: rudder mods

H-33 rudder was just skin and foam. I drilled test holes first to test it.

 

[jibseaman]

Re: rudder mods

New rudder problem on the 33. I slid the rudder down 3" to work on it but when I tried to put it back in it wouldn't budge. The boat is on the hard so I rotated it back and forth and pushed upward with a car jack. No luck only lifted the boat off the ground. So I decide to remove the rudder and fix the bent shaft. No, It doesn't want to let me do that either. It no longer rotates very far and it gets tight in both directions. I can see what looks like a plastic shim, it is rotating with the rudder but I don't think it should. What now?

 

[jibseaman]

Re: rudder mods

whops! I forgot the real scary part. The stern tube inside the boat is moving with the rudder too.

 

[Ed Schenck]

By "stern tube" do you mean where the rudder post lives? Because the stern tube is where the prop shaft exits. The Cherubinis are different in how the rudder post rotates in the hull I think. I see no evidence of anything but a hole in the hull. There are no shims or any sign of a bearing. It seems that you have a f/g bearing and shims turning inside that hole. And I guess your shaft is bent enough that it is hanging up. I hope someone has an idea because I sure don't.

P.S. you wrote that the rudder is "just skin and foam". Did you drill those test holes within an inch or two of the bottom? Since Foss Foam built all of our rudders I would be surprised if there was not a frame there.

 

[Paul F]

Years ago I had the same problem with a bent rudder shaft. American Boat Works fixed it under an insurance claim. They may remember how they made the repair, if you would like to call them.

http://www.americanboatworks.com/

The boat was leaking at the rudder thru hull. Don't know how much trouble they had in removing the rudder post. Everyone at the time recommended a new rudder post rather than using the old one.

From your description you may have to cut the thru hull out and re-fiberglass to make the repair.

 

[jibseaman]

I tested it were I was going to cut it 4" from bottom. The piece I cut off sure is lite though. I'll try drilling into it tomorrow.

 

[sandpiper10471]

When i got my H33 it had been an insurance hurricane write-off. The boat had bounced around on its rudder. The post comes up a sleeve and a stuffing box keeps the water from pouring in (theoretically). That sleeve is heavily glassed to the keelson and is supported near the top, laterally, by a fiberglass plate which extends to the hull sides where it is tabbed. My plate had torn away from its tabbing, allowing the rudder to flop over sideways. I suggest you check to see if that plate is securely bonded to the hull. If not, fix that first. If that plate is askew, it will cause the shaft to bind. Also, before dropping or raising the rudder, make sure the stuffing box on top is loose. (Incidentally, the nut which packs down the flax is notorious for corrosion and pitting. There were a number of posts about this quite a few years ago. I repaired mine with carbon fiber and epoxy, but then I am not in salt water.