F250 meets Sunfish rudder bracket

S

sawyerspadre

Got kids, need Sunfish.
I just picked up a nice 2000 Vanguard and on the way home, a knucklehead bumped into the boat, pretty hard. His truck pushed the boat forward on the trailer and broke the bow seam open as the bow hit the trailer winch post. The rudder bracket was also bent up a bit, and I need to bend it back down to straighten.
What’s the best method? BTW, I’d prefer not to take it off and replace. It’s not too badly bent, and I don’t want to cut a port in the deck to get to the backing plate inside.
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A square of plywood on each face of bent portion. Then use a medium sized C clamp and tighten. Grab the body of the clamp and pull down until perpendicular to transom. Check alignment with rudder assembly. Good luck.
 
sun1fish said:
A square of plywood on each face of bent portion. Then use a medium sized C clamp and tighten. Grab the body of the clamp and pull down until perpendicular to transom. Check alignment with rudder assembly. Good luck.
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Sounds like a plan
 
Heating it up might help, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to heat it with it still attached. sun1fish's plan should work, maybe a little bit of hammering as well.
 
Sun1fish's suggestion should work but be gentle as you don't want to crack the fiberglass surrounding the bracket. Removing the bracket is no big deal as the 4 stainless screws attach to a threaded plate finerglassed into the inside of the transom. If you remove the bracket, clamp it in a vice and hammer it back to true then simply screw it back on, no inspection port needed.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
People ask me, "Why do you own eight Sunfish?" I reply,
"I have only five, as I've sold-off three of them".

:)

A few Sunfish arrived with bent and/or twisted S/S gudgeons.

There's some "slop" in the system so just return it close to normal, so the rudder fits in without fiddling.

In your case, I'd clamp a #10 Vise-Grip on it and bend it down. Although that worked fine for me, others may find it important to strongly brace the two UPPER screws.

You'll need scraps of 2x4s, a ⅜"x3" lagbolt, turnbuckle, carabiners, some chain and clamps. Run the chain across the rear deck (protecting the finish everywhere with wood scraps) and clamp to the cockpit edge.

One could also back the trailer close to something solid and brace the upper gudgeon against a straight piece of pipe or lumber.

Bend with confidence!
;)
 
I followed the same steps that Alan suggested and was able to bend the bracket into shape. I would much rather bend it on a vise rather than try to bend it while attached to the stern.
 
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