Rudder Question - Water

wxt8981 · Nov 13, 2005

Hi Steve;

I would find out where ther water came from, grind if
necessary, and then fill (depending how big the hole is)
with mat and\or fiberglass. Never worry about making too
big a hole (grinding), fiberglass will cover it again.

Good luck.... Wilhelm, V-257

madenschraube · Nov 13, 2005

For Vega 239, there is a parallel history. Around 1985, I also found
water dripping. During next season, the rudder suddenly got loose
during a wet cruise turning freely on the shaft although with some
friction. The boat handled well with just jib and main, never tested
that before...

Split the rudder and found one side well in contact with the flat steel
that was used to turn the blade. But the weld to the shaft was cracked
and showed a nice fatigue school book case. Weld just some 40 mm
long and on one side of the joint only. A design with a bitter criminal
taste, considering the risks for the boat and crew had it cracked in
open sea.

I welded a rather long flat bar 200 high, 60x6 on each side of the shaft
with intermittent welds and welded the old bar to both. I then added
a second some 150 mm lower with some 250 length into the rudder,
pointing a bit downwards.
Patched all up on one side of the rudder with filler and mat and epoxy.
Made five large holes on the loose half and glued it all together.
Made the joint areas flatter to add epoxy. Patched mat and epoxy
to the open enlarged holes. Fairly well filled up inside. Ground it nice
and added top gelcoat and paint. Rudder got some 0.7 kg heavier,
but it feels much safer now. The bottom aft corner has a 22 mm hole
for emergency steering, just in case.

I would not expect that your internal rudder design is much different.
A brutal splitting is better to do now rather than waiting for the
crack to come when you least want it.

Fair winds, Arne, Vega 239

WL wrote:

madenschraube · Nov 13, 2005

The rudder is made from two halves "baked" in a fixture having
the shape of the rudder´s shape. Just like making the hull, but the
joint is made as a last step. The shaft and the antirotation
paddle was glued and patched with mat and fibreglass into
one half and the other half then glued to that to form a full rudder.
I knocked a few wood cutting tools and a few knifes along the
joint that was easily cracked open. A few more screwdrivers
pressed into the crack helped as well. Maybe the halves will hold
together very differently in different individual rudders pending
the mood of the worker.
The crack did not follow any other trace than around the edge,
but you should be careful not to let get astray.
Getting the rudder right is a good training since it is hard to do
it wrong. Not as critical as the hull itself. There are several
sources of how-to knowhow on the web to google up.
Mind you, in case you find all very intact, then maybe this
operation is not needed. I suspect however that my cracked
weld experience is not the only one and at least Vega numbers
around 239 should have the same design. I did not stress the
rudder much at all during sailing, and when looking at the
terrible quality of the weld, I realize it did not take much to
crack it open.

A friend of mine suggests that you can get a bit of pre-info
of the condition of the weld if you lock the rudder firmly and
test turning with tiller, you could get a feeling of where things
yield a bit. It should give a small spring action before cracking
through. On the other hand, the full job getting it all open
is not very big and the feeling of knowing all is ok inside
is a worthwhile effort.

Cheers Arne

Steve Birch wrote:

pjacobs55 · Nov 13, 2005

Steve: You may already know of this, but in the Yahoo Files Section
there is a PDF file "How to Build a Vega Rudder" There are some good
pictures of splitting the olg glass rudder there.

Peter
'Sin Tacha' #1331

Rudder Question - Water

stevebirch2002

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wxt8981

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madenschraube

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stevebirch2002

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stevebirch2002

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madenschraube

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pjacobs55

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