old style Rudder spring plate?

[Nola Mike]

Somehow I managed to lose the Spring plate on my old style Rudder. I ordered a new one on eBay, but it does not appear to be the correct part. there are no holes in it, which would be no problem to drill. It also appears to be a little bit too short, and too thick as well. Does anyone have the dimensions for this part, and does this look right? The piece was New Old Stock, and the part number is 65012.

 

[signal charlie]

Well, should have holes, we know that. You can place it over your hinge plate to see if it is long enough. Forward end will need the hole for the wood screw and aft end will have hole for the carriage bolt.

We have one if Alan or Craig don't...but not this one, it is on ZIP. And it is for a wooden Sunfish. Not able to measure one for a few days and not sure if the hinge plate was different for wooden or fiberglass yet.

Cheers
Kent

 

[Webfoot1]

Thickness looks about right. I don't think it's too critical, I found some
steel bar-stock at Ace hardware that was the same width and about
the same thickness. Worked just fine and did not rust in fresh water.
As long as the plate can deflect a little bit when you tighten the wingnut
or hit something with the rudder.

 

[Nola Mike]

Here's the guys response:
"There were variations in these and in later years, Sunfish sold them without drilling the holes. Center of the Holes are located approximately 5-1/2 inch apart and 1/4 inch from the ends.

I have sold over 20 of these and am unaware with any problems.
let me know if you have issues."

Might as well try drilling the holes I guess. I don't see how it springs though. Iirc, my old one had some flex to it. This is solid stuff, doesn't bend at all.

 

[Webfoot1]

It's meant to apply a upward pull on the bottom strap. When you
hit something the bottom strap flexes downward and hopefully
pulls the spring plate downward. It's also intended to do the same
when you snap the rudder into the locked position. I can speculate
that as the bottom strap pockets wore out a more rigid spring was
needed but that's just a guess. I do know that the pocket wear made
it difficult to tighten the wing-nut enough.

 

[Nola Mike]

I can say for sure that the plate itself won't flex. There is a hump on the plate that might allow the spring to pivot, but I don't see how that would happen without some play in the fore screw. I'll install tomorrow and see how it goes

 

[Nola Mike]

Well, looks like I was wrong again. I drilled a couple of holes and installed. Apparently the force of a wing nut over that hump on the plate exerts more force than my hands, and it does flex. I think I might actually have all the parts that I'm supposed to at this point. Some light wind out there now, but I think enough to take it for a sail