Rudder Gudgeon Breaks in Race

S

squash

Member
50 feet from the finish of a race, three of the four gudgeon screws fell out of my 2010 Sunfish. I was unable to sail on port and unable to finish the race. Has anyone else had this happen?

What is the best way to fix it?

This boat has been such a lemon.
 
That is really bad. I wonder what they'd say if you called them up, or at least called up the dealer.

Sounds like they left out the backing plate. Others on the board may have better ideas, but I'd think you'd have to put a port in the aft deck and reach in, install the backing plate, and then put new screws into the plate. Somehow I have a feeling that it won't be as easy as I am making it sound....
 
I called them. That's how I found out about the new, one-year warranty.

They said they would get back to me on how to fix it.

An inspection port and through bolts is one obvious way, but I would like to try a less invasive way first. I was thinking of drilling out the gudgeon holes for slightly larger screws that would then grab the fiberglass and backing plate. If the backing plate is missing, would this still work - is the fiberglass strong enough to hold the rudder on?
 
Having screws pull out of a gudgeon bracket is absolutely unheard of and I agree with Beldar that they must have left the internal back-up plate out of the boat when it was being built and then just bolted the bracket on with only the thin fiberglass transom wall for grip. You really need the back-up plate - don't enlarge the existing and use larger bolts as that rig will fail as well over time. Warranty be damned, the builder should pay to correct this problem. Short of their giving you a new hull, they should pay to have an inspection port professionally installed and a back-up plate installed with new stainless steel machine screws. This is like buying a car only to find important parts missing (and the back-up plate is an important part as this is a high stress area.)

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
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The fiberglass does not seem like it would be strong enough - I am in agreement with Alan - the backing plate is there for a reason - it is needed to keep the rudder on. I also agree with Alan about the warranty. If the boat is missing a critical component they should fix it.
BB
 
I have made this kind of repair in the past. It is easy (once the port is in). I agree that this is outrageous.
 
". . . fell out. . ." Were the nuts still on the screws? . . I.e., Did the nuts work off (and were they lock nuts?) or did they pull through the the transom? The dealer should be all over this!
I'm curious what other things you've found about your "lemon".
 
I don't think there are any nuts or washers. The back-up plate is threaded and the stainless steel machine screws just screw into the internal back-up plate.

Alan Glos
 
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