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Rudder and Foss Foam of CA

sproption

Member II
I am in deep doo do

I recently purchased a new rudder for my Ericson 29 from Foss Foam of CA.

I was disappointed in the fit. Despite assurances that they "had this" with over 30 years under their belt, I found a 1" gap at the leading edge and rubbing against the hull on the trailing edge. I am very concerned about the rudder slamming in a seaway. I am also less concerned with turbulence and drag without the flush fit.

(See the four photos attached) Blue rudder is the original, white rudder is the Foss Foam replacement.

Do I:

1. Epoxy a spacer of plywood and glass to the boat bottom that conforms to the gap?
2. Epoxy a spacer of foam and glass to the top of the rudder that conforms to the gap?
3. Shave/cut and the repair the back 7/8s of the rudder to conform to the gap?
4. Insert a Delrin spacer over the schedule 40 pipe?
5. ???

Variables:

1. Foss Foam owner is out of town till tomorrow.
2. My boat yard is closing June 28th, all boats out on or before that date.:0
3. I am in Wisconsin, Foss Foam is in CA.

Thanks for your input and 2 cents.

Matt
 

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  • Foss Foam rudder 3.jpg
    Foss Foam rudder 3.jpg
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  • Foss Foam rudder 2.jpg
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  • Original rudder fit.jpg
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  • Foss Foam rudder 1.jpg
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debonAir

Member III
Looks like the pipe is just angled wrong in the rudder.

Even if you managed to reshape the top of the rudder to match the hull (or the hull to match the rudder) the rudder will *still* be angled wrong. In your case, there will be less balance because more of the rudder area is now aft of the pivot, assuming the pipe enters the top at the proper spot. This would manifest itself in more tiller/wheel effort upwind, so really you need to get them to fix this.

I'd be more worried about pot ropes getting wedged up there vs. turbulence, but if you have to launch, you have to grind down the top rear hitting the hull and patch that up, and maybe add a block on top leading edge to block ropes until you get a proper rudder?
 
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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Oh My....

The vendor has a good reputation, but everyone makes a mistake once in a while.
Call them today and present it as a "problem to be solved" and send them the pix.
While you are a ways away by map, air freight gets there in about a day.
My guess is that they will be eager to fix it, and will need the existing new rudder to effect some changes.

Please keep us posted.
Good luck!
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
It looks like Ericson trimmed the top of the rudder to conform to the curve of the hull.

That doesn't seem too hard to do. Or is it?
 

Kevin A Wright

Member III
It looks like Ericson trimmed the top of the rudder to conform to the curve of the hull.

That doesn't seem too hard to do. Or is it?

Take a compass and set it to the largest gap then scribe around the top of the rudder. Take a sawsall and cut to the line. There shouldn't be any webbing up that high, just foam and glass. Sand it smooth and grind off any paint on the top edge for the new glass to mate to. Throw a layer or two of glass and epoxy on, repaint and Bob's your Uncle!

But if you aren't in a rush, just have the vendor redo it right.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Since the rudder tube is just tabbed to the hull at one end and jammed into a deck plate at the other, I wonder how precise Ericson was at making that angle the same in every boat? Hard to tell with a sample-size of one.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
FWIW, and since it is sitting here on the workbench, I measured the angle between the rudder shaft and the top of my rudder, which fits correctly on my 71 E29.

What to a casual glance appears to be a straight flat surface in fact has three different planes. The short segment forward of the rudder post is 105°. A segment aft of the rudder post and about half-way back is 87.5°. The aft-most segment is 85°.

It may well have been trimmed to fit. But again, sample size = 1.
 
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