Rudder

Jul 25, 2016
197
Catalina 22 Sacramento
Hey Gang,

This weekend I had yet another new mishap on my boat. This time I broke my rudder while under sail. (I tried to attach a couple of pics but I keep getting the message that they are too large. Any help here?) It was perfect sailing conditions n my home lake, 10-12, a really great wind speed. We had a really strong puff, which we saw and were ready for when it arrived. I was spilling air in the main and the boat was handling all very well. Then the boat turned up hard into the wind. It was then I realized I had no control of the boat and I was without a rudder. I am so happy this happened on my home lake AND without my girlfriend on board. We were able to get the sails down and recover the broken rudder so that it doesn't ruin someone's day. I am grateful to have my outboard to get us back to the slip.

After doing a little digging, I found this statement on the Ruffer Craft site:
"Original rudders frequently fail at the waterline and rarely fail during good conditions. So, do a thorough inspection of your original equipment rudder frequently...:

I encourage all of you to inspect your rudder. This is something that could fail at the worse possible time.

My question to the community is: Should I pay the big boat bucks for a new rudder, like a Rudder Craft or should I shop for a used rudder? I don't know enough to know if the Rudder Craft rudder is worth the expense. It would be nice to have a kick-up rudder, but almost a $1K?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Apr 28, 2020
43
Catalina 22 Washington, NC
Would love to see the pictures of this... are you saying that the structure of the actual rudder failed, and not at the pins?
 
Jul 25, 2016
197
Catalina 22 Sacramento
Would love to see the pictures of this... are you saying that the structure of the actual rudder failed, and not at the pins?
That is correct. Do you know how to change the picture size? Most of the time the webiste will reduce a picture to fit its requirements.
 
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
You could copy the photo into a word document then with the snipping tool, garb the photo then paste into the post.
1593440309163.png
 
Mar 20, 2015
3,094
C&C 30 Mk1 Winnipeg
Likely water ingress through the lower bolt holes causing rot in the wood core.

I had a oem kickup rudder but it had small cracks at the edge and was delaminating.
I bought a ruddercraft kickup one and have never looked back.

Considering the age of these boats i wouldnt buy a used rudder. Likely has similar problems unless you want spend time restoring it.

@Gene Neill did have a pintle weld fail on his Ruddercraft one, but Ruddercraft told me they sell thousands of them with that gudgeon/pintle setup (likely for many other small boats in addition to the C22) without issues. Bad welds can happen and nobody is perfect. The HDPE Kickup units come with a 6 year warranty.
Hopefully Gene can chime in with the result.
 
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Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
Hopefully Gene can chime in with the result.

I didn't bother contacting them. I never was huge fan of Ruddercraft as a company ... long story, goes back to when I first bought their rudder and mast crutch combo. But they're the only game in town, so it's either their rudder or a used one, probably very old, probably still 4-5 hundred bucks. Or else build your own. (I do believe Ruddercraft knows this quite well, based on my past interaction with them.)

Nevertheless, I'd still buy another Ruddercraft if mine disappeared today. What choice is there? Besides, their design IS spectacular, a quantum leap above Catalina's. I could never go back to that now.
 
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Sep 16, 2020
22
Catalina 22 New Braunfels
I still have not sailed my 86 yet. I am finishing up the Bow Eye Project and looking at my rudder. One side looks fine and the other appears like the get coat on it is cracking. How do you maintain it? Epoxy Paint?