rudder fit

pooka

New Member
I discovered that my rudder had a discernable wobble. I tightened the cheek assembly and eliminated some but not all of this lateral movement. Then, I Installed an entirely new assembly, and discovered the same condition.

I would around the beach on sunday and found that other boats had, more or less, a similar condition. There appears to be some play in the gudgeun and the pintle can move about.

Do you agree that this condition will disturb flow over the foil, creat cavitating disturbance and slow the boat.

Is this generally observed? Is it a manufacturing problem?

Pooka
 
Pooka,

The connection between the rudder assembly and the hull is where you may have too much play and my guess is that the stainless steel "U" shaped gudgeon has worn a little and the s.s. pintle does not fit snugly. Inspect it and see if the pintle rattles around a little. If so, one fix might be to gently hammer the sides of the gudgeon to close up the holes a little and then re-drill the holes to the exact size of the pintle. I have never tried this, but it should work. If you try it, be sure to back up the opposite side of the pintle with a sledge hammer head or a big hunk of lead so as not to damage the fiberglass hull where the gudgeon attaches to the hull. Another idea is to buy and install a new gudgeun, but the first idea would be easier and less expensive if you have the tools.

The rudder vibrations proabably do affect speed a little but frankly not nearly as much as missing a nice lift or poor sail trim. On the major to minor continium, a little rudder vibration is pretty small change (but it is annoying).

Alan Glos
 
pooka said:
Do you agree that this condition will disturb flow over the foil, creat cavitating disturbance and slow the boat.

Is this generally observed? Is it a manufacturing problem?
Pooka

Yes. Yes. No.

It's a cheap boat made with cheap parts and you get what you pay for.
 

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