What's inside a Catalina 30 Rudder?

[sailfree]

I've read a few postings about rudder repairs, but haven't found anything about the actual construction. I suspect it's a stainless steel tube with stainless (hopefully) tabs welded to it fore & aft to keep the post from turning inside the rudder.

My boat is a 1980 model. It has a crack in the rudder, probably from freezing water inside. There is some brown goo running out of the crack.

I had the same problem with a Hunter, but didn't have any brown goo. Just patched the crack with some epoxy and cloth.

I'm wondering if the Catalina has mild steel tabs instead of stainless. In that case I should probably open it up to check how bad the rust is.

 

[Stu Jackson]

In any event

you NEED to get any water out. The C30 Assoc. website should have information on the rudder construction in your vintage yacht. If not, please feel free to investigate our website's technical information since many of the systems are similar if not identical: http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Rudder

 

[Team118]

Well, Catalina uses brown goo in all their rudders. Being a better quality product than Hunter they have built their reputation on going the extra mile!

 

[Shell]

There is nothing inside the rudder. No brown goo!
The goo is from creatures growing and dieing inside.
The rudder is a stainless steel fork. Like and upside down F.
Fiber glass is wrap around it and built up.

It took mine partly apart. To dry it out completely would take months if at all.

 

[Team118]

Ok, ok. So maybe there isn't brown goo inside every Catalina rudder.

My rudder was cracked by the stainless steel post and I felt it would be better to replace it rather than dry it out.

http://newrudders.com/

These people are great. They have the Catalina mold ready to go. I believe total cost including shipping from Florida to Rochester, NY with installation by my marina was about $1700.

I think the only measurement they needed was for the length of the rudder post.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Your rudder could be delaminated. When I bought the Spirit of Liberty she had a cracked rudder. I have a brand new rudder on the boat that the old owners paid for. It ran them about $5000 to do the replacement. It was a bit of a job too!

 

[sailfree]

$5000 for a rudder replacement is ABSURD! I removed mine in about 2 hours by myself. Replacement will be easier because now I know the sequence. There are no special tools required. Even If a yard charged $100 an hour, it shouldn't be more than $500 labor to remove and replace with a new rudder.

Mine rudder isn't "delaminated" it just has some small cracks from water freezing inside during the winter. I was hoping to find some info on the type of steel framework inside to see if I needed to drill some inspection holes.

After posting the original question here I found a letter from Catalina. There are probably mild steel tabs in the rudder, so I guess I'll be drilling the holes to check that.

http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/16483836/1821355256/name/Rudder Repair (crack).pdf

Some owners report finding wood laminated into the rudder. Hope I don't find that.

In any case I won't be buying a new rudder at $1700. There can't be that much involved in fixing the old one, no matter what I find. Of course if some prefer not to take on that kind of repair, then I suppose a new rudder may be appropriate in some cases.