Rudder Problems

[DFrye]

Hi All - I'm two days away from splash day and in the normal tumult of getting everything in order I did not notice that the pintles on my rudder moved until last night. Taking the pintles off I found that what had once been circles for the pintle screws had become elongated oval of varying widths. *o What to do?! It's the countdown before splash day. If I grind out the holes and fill them with marine-tex and then drill them out again and paint them will it be sturdy enough to withstand the rudder pressure? Will it even dry in time? Do I have to order a whole new rudder? Where from? Help! txs, D.

 

[Ric Shultz]

epoxy

Drill them out, fill with epoxy and then redrill. I overdrilled my tiller connection, epoxied in a 1" oak dowel and then under drilled that to fit. It stopped the wear problem.

 

[Herb Parsons]

I agree with Ric

You'll have no problems if you drill them out larger, fill with expoxy, and then redrill new holes. Don't buy a new rudder. Been there, done that. There are a LOT more interesting things to spend money on for your boat.BTW, my rudder was a clamshell type on my O'Day 25, and had split. I repaired it with fiberglass, my first ever "fiberglass project", and it lasted another season and half. Your holes will do fine.

 

[Bob1757]

something to consider

consider; for a few cents, the local true value or home depot will have stainless bushings (near the nails + screws.) drill out + epoxy around that + you'll have something that should last for years and not look like a patch job if you ever sell it (or want to show off your work.)good luck whatever you decide,bob

 

[Ed1739]

Epoxy plug

The epoxy will work just fine, you can "oversize" and fill or core out any rotted transom plywood (the transom on my 25 was cored with plywood I think) using a drill with a bent nail and fill with epoxy. You will want to mask the area carefully to avoid drips, etc. Epoxy will solidify paper tapes so remove when done or use vinyl electrical tape, the epoxy will not bond to that. The whole project shouldn't take more than a day to drill/fill and the second to reinstall the gudgeons, so two days total downtime. When I did mine I used longer bolts and made wide backing plates (of King Starboard) with wide fender washers to help distribute the pressure. Good Luck!