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Rudder snapped

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DaveC25
Navigator

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USA
152 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/01/2008 : 08:15:46

Well, I was out sailing on the intracoastal this last beautiful weekend when I began to tack and heard a crack and the tiller began to swing freely in my hand! I knew almost right away what happened so I popped the mainsheet and jib sheet loose and went up front and dropped the anchor. Luckily I had a spare rudder on board so I removed what was left of the old one and then installed the spare.

The old one snapped off right at the lower gudgeon. My theory is that since the water level has been low in the marina and the rudder was in the mud, I suspect that the rocking of the boat must have cracked it somehow. I had to remove the rudder before sailing and retighten the lower gudgeon since it had been worked loose by the rocking, and keep the rudder off while getting the boat out of the slip due to the mud between the slip and the canal. I inspected the rudder prior to sailing but saw nothing unusual.

Lessons learned: Always keep a spare rudder with you! (or a full tank of gas and an outboard! ) And remove your rudder if the water might get low.

1979 Catalina 25 "Pretty Penny" #1166
Palm Bay, Florida

Edited by - DaveC25 on 04/01/2008 08:32:00

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 08:47:22

"It's a hard knock life"

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 09:14:46

A spare rudder? Man, the Boy Scouts were never that well prepared!

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 09:46:19

A spare rudder is an excellent idea.

What kind of rudder will you now be buying?

Will the new rudder be the new spare rudder, or will the new rudder be the new rudder, or will the spare rudder be the new rudder or will the spare rudder continue to be the spare rudder?

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 11:20:26

Lets see, spare rudder or six hundred junior bacon cheeseburgers? Tough call, but I think I stick to sail trim steering if I lose my rudder and the cheese burgers will make me more effective ballast.

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Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 11:28:59

Ih had the lower gudgeon snap off under sail when my boat was new(All the bolts sheared off at the transom - probably over torqued at the factory)and managed to get back to port with the outboard motor. I don't carry an extra rudder but I read about a guy on a C-25 who lost his rudder far from shore and fabricated a temoporary from the dining table.

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quilombo
Captain

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USA
301 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 20:50:03

just curious was that a solid core rudder, ??? mine is and I would find it hard to believe that mine could ever break,

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2008 : 22:56:24

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by quilombo
 just curious was that a solid core rudder, ??? mine is and I would find it hard to believe that mine could ever break<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Through the middle 80s, the original rudders were solid fiberglass below the lower pintle (the thin part) and wood cored at and above the lower pintle (the thick part). The common breaking point is about at the lower pintle, where moisture weakens the core. The source of moisture can be the pintle bolt holes or the crack that often develops at the seam between the two halves of the blade (often from freezing moisture inside).

The late-80's balanced original equipment rudder is foam cored top to bottom. (It can actually float off the gudgeons.) The IDA rudder sold by Catalina Direct is solid polymer (like Starboard), which has occasionally snapped under stress.

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 04/02/2008 : 00:57:54

I've thought about this since re-glassing the middle 1/3 of my rudder that was cracked at the lower pintle and about to fail.

Here is the spare rudder I would use in an emergency - a canoe paddle tied/taped to a 9' (?) aluminum Sunfish mast.

(Where did I get a Sunfish mast? Found this pole washed ashore at the mouth of the Chester River last winter and recognized the rigging. There must be a story of maritime woe in that mast!)

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 04/02/2008 : 09:07:15

That's my daughter's Sunfish mast!!

It slid off the roof rack about 20 years ago, apparently rolled into the Goodwives River, rode the tide out into Long Island Sound, through Hell's Gate, down the East River, thru NY Harbor, around Cape May, and was sucked through the Chesapeake Canal! We've always wondered where it went!

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 04/02/2008 : 10:52:29

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That's my daughter's Sunfish mast!! It slid off the roof rack about 20 years ago, apparently rolled into the Goodwives River, rode the tide out into Long Island Sound, through Hell's Gate, down the East River, thru NY Harbor, around Cape May, and was sucked through the Chesapeake Canal! We've always wondered where it went! <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Highly unlikely.
The currents off Cape May run north.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 04/02/2008 : 21:38:43

The rudder on my 1986 C22 snapped of at the same place. Those cored rudders crack and leak, the core gets soft and the rudder snaps when under strain. Who carries a spare rudder??

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DaveC25
Navigator

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USA
152 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2008 : 15:39:03

This particular rudder was fiberglass over marine plywood. I do not think it was original. However, upon inspection after the break the wood did not appear rotten and it was a 3/4" sheet sandwiched by two 1/2" sheets then wrapped with fiberglass, and they snapped clean through. The pintles were wider than the standard size ones I bought for the spare I made. That's why I believe the boat rocking with the rudder in the mud must have done it in. I actually sailed on it for about 2 hours that day before it snapped, in about 10kt winds on a beam reach with the 150 and main. There were several dolphins swimming near the boat at the time so there is a slight possibility that one of them hit it while playing around the boat, but I did not feel any impact. This same rudder I've had since I got the boat several years ago, and it's been through some serious weather, including thunderstorms and gail force gusts in which I blew out a reefed mainsail, and has always performed well.

I will try to take some pictures of what's left of the broken rudder.

My spare is actually one I made to be just a spare. It is fiberglass over wood. I had hung it on the boat previously to make sure it fit but never used it. It worked great, but it will remain the spare and I will get another professionally made rudder. Funny thing about the spare, the only reason it was on the boat was because it was in my way the previous weekend while I was working around my garage, so I threw it in my truck, and then took it to the boat just to have a place to keep it where it wasn't in the way. Needless to say it will now remain on the boat.

-Dave C

Edited by - DaveC25 on 04/04/2008 15:40:39

Todd Frye
Navigator

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USA
222 Posts

Response Posted - 04/08/2008 : 20:39:30

I found an anodized tubular aluminum dry wall tool at the local hardware that is much stouter than any boat hook I can find. I turned a "hook" end out of HDPE, and as a boat hook, couldn't be happier. Then I noticed this ad, after studying self steering systems:

http://www.selfsteer.com/products/sos/index.php

I am designing a rudder "foil" that can be attached to the boat hook, in case my factory rudder fails. Two birds. Todd Frye

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