I have a 1977, 33-foot Irwin. The shaft in the rudder is striped or broken. I need a replacement rudder. Does anyone know where I could get one. And is there anyone that I could talk to about the repair?
Thanks
Thanks
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It should be repairable easier and cheaper than replacing
Generally rudders have 2 or 3 horizontal flat bars on each side of the rudder shaft that extend horizontally aft from the rudder shaft between the rudder core (foam or balsa) and the fiberglass shell. If your shaft is turning and the rudder isn't I would suspect that the welds between these tangs and the shaft have failed. What you would have to do to fix it would be to remove some of the glass on one side of the shaft to find the tang locations, then remove the glass on both sides and reweld the tangs to the shaft and recover with glass and resin. This is an oversimplified explanation but should represent a fix you can do yourself with a little welding help.
Good luck
Joe S
Generally rudders have 2 or 3 horizontal flat bars on each side of the rudder shaft that extend horizontally aft from the rudder shaft between the rudder core (foam or balsa) and the fiberglass shell. If your shaft is turning and the rudder isn't I would suspect that the welds between these tangs and the shaft have failed. What you would have to do to fix it would be to remove some of the glass on one side of the shaft to find the tang locations, then remove the glass on both sides and reweld the tangs to the shaft and recover with glass and resin. This is an oversimplified explanation but should represent a fix you can do yourself with a little welding help.
Good luck
Joe S
The location of the tangs would not be shown in any specs I know of
Your boatyard could grind away some of the glass on one side of your rudder shaft to find them. This is the kind of repair almost any boatyard could do for a price. It is not normally done by mechanics at their hourly rate but by lesser paid employees at the yard. It is something you could do yourself however, even if you wanted to just drill holes behind the rudder shaft every 1/2 " or so down the length of it.
Maybe this would be of some help
http://www.irwinyachts.com/Drawings-Manuals-Engineering/Drawings-manuals-Engeneering.htm
Good luck
Joe S
Your boatyard could grind away some of the glass on one side of your rudder shaft to find them. This is the kind of repair almost any boatyard could do for a price. It is not normally done by mechanics at their hourly rate but by lesser paid employees at the yard. It is something you could do yourself however, even if you wanted to just drill holes behind the rudder shaft every 1/2 " or so down the length of it.
Maybe this would be of some help
http://www.irwinyachts.com/Drawings-Manuals-Engineering/Drawings-manuals-Engeneering.htm
Good luck
Joe S
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