E-27 rudder repair

I hit a rock in a Very Remote Area. After trying to get a haul out (not a
chance), I finally removed the Rudder with the boat in the water. After
removing the two bolts on the tiller, I hammered it out using a 18" piece
of PVC pipe (2-3/8") and a piece of wood. The Rudder popped out, and
was caught in a net (the E-27 Rudder DOES SINK).

There's a little fiberglass damage, but not bad overall. The Stainless Steel
Pipe is bent over 35-degrees. So, does anybody have any ideas to bend
it back? I'm not sure if it will be strong enough if bent back--anyone ever
do this before? Someone mentioned that the pipe should be cut at the
top of the Rudder, and a new pipe welded on. That would require digging
away some of the fiberglass at the pipe.

Any tricks on getting it back on? I thought of maybe a large "ROLL PIN"
in the pipe, where the bolt normally goes and a length of rope fed down
the Tiller Tube. I figure I may be able to hook it up to a block on the boom
and then use the sheet winch to pull it back up.

Anybody have any other ideas? Again, the boat is still in the water.


Thanks.

Sorry about your rudder. You could cut it off and weld new pipe, but
as you said, glass work will be required. I might even cut it off
below the top of the rudder and then reglass. That would keep
your grinding to a minimum. Make sure the new post is turned on a lathe prior to
welding.You will need someone in the water
to guide it into the tube. I like your "roll pin idea." Grease the post
well and you may not need the winch. Good luck.

Martin

Hi Bigrocks,

I don't know if this is accurate enough but there is a line drawing of your E27 in the documents area of this web site; http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=82&id=420

I'm no boat designer but if you weld on a new rudder post I would think you could make it 4" or so longer than the existing. That way the top of your rudder angle to the hull shape won't be that critical (you'll have a gap). Later when you can pull the boat you can fill in that space with glass (longer rudder) or cut it down to fit.

I guess you would need a collar in that extension area to keep the rudder down.

Duplicate on the other thread as well.

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by bigrocks
Also, the boat is still in the water. To put it back on, the post will
obviously be in the water. Anyone have any ideas how to keep water
from entering the top? I'm still thinking "roll pin" to pull it back into place.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Any hardware stores there? What kind of tools do you have?

Once the shaft is straight you could run a wooden dowel into the shaft and secure it with some screws thru the tiller head bolt holes. A heavy eye screw into the end of the dowel would allow you to tie a line to it. Seal the whole mess with some black electrical tape(or caulk).

Tie a weight(nut?) to some line and drop it thru the rudder shaft tube(in the boat) and you should be able to snag the line from under the boat with a boat hook......tie the line to the eye screw in the rudder shaft and with any luck pulling the line should get the rudder shaft back into it's rightful place.

As a safety backup I'd drill a hole thru the trailing edge of the rudder and attach a second "retrieval line" w/ float. A long/double line with the knot above water will allow you to pull it thru after all is said and done.

You may have to back the rear of the boat into shallow water(ground the rudder) to to reattach the tiller head.


IMPORTANT ???
How negatively buoyant is the rudder in the water.....estimated weight?

Don't you know any divers or could you ask a diver to position it for you.

selous said:

Don't you know any divers or could you ask a diver to position it for you.

Click to expand...

This is where he's at..... pretty remote. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um...N&tab=il&tbo=0

Remote... and yet grimly well known to NW boaters.
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/21/151049/

I have stood, silently for a while, in front of the memorial at the little marina, when we stopped there during a delivery a couple summers ago.

Those confident and young-looking USCG boys 'n' girls are fit, smart, and skilled, but SAR is an exceedingly dangerous business along this coast in the winter.

LB

Loren Beach said:

Remote... and yet grimly well known around the NW.
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/21/151049/

LB

Click to expand...

Excellent article! La Push reminds me of some of our "harbors of refuge" on the Great Lakes

My rudder issues...E-27 1978

Hi peoples. I have not splashed my newly bought E-27 yet...working on it.
One thing that came to my attention is, after I stripped all the bottom paint off the rudder, I found multiple stress cracks in the gelcoat of it, mainly in the lower third part of a rudders portside, closer to a front edge. Almost a ster pattern with a longest crack about a foot long going up . I tried flexing the blade, it seems solid, no wiggle or play...
Another sailor in the yard looked at it and suggested me mounting an auxillary transom mounted rudder(or at least an option of that) before taking the boat anywhere far(like across the lake Michigan).
Are there any drawings available on the internal rudder construction???
Since I didn't feel any play in the rudder blade, I was going to simply v-groove the cracks with a dremel, fill them with epoxy and paint over with barrier coat.
I do an auxillary rudder option, only I would have to remove my transom ladder for that(or at least move it to the side.
Has anyone here with an E-27 had any issues with a rudder filling up with water, or degrading structurally with age???
Has anyone here ever opened one up to fix it???
I will post some pix of my rudder after tomorrow's trip to a boatyard.

I fought rudder gelcoat cracking and seeping problems on my E32 for years and years, a section or two of the rudder at a time. Eventually (last year) the layers of grinding and patching over wet foam got overwhelming, and the rudder ceased to be shaped much like a foil, and I decided to buy a new one with a better hydrodynamic design from Foss in California at fairly reasonable cost.

I've since taken a Sawzall to the old rudder and realized that it was a lot stronger and more solid than it looked. It still needed to be replaced, but it was in absolutely no danger of breaking off or falling apart. It really looked awful, though, even before the Sawzall wrought its havoc. I was worried it would fall off.

I would suggest taking as much paint as you can off the rudder, grinding out the stress cracks as you're suggesting, drying it out as much as possible, patching the cracks with thickened epoxy, and placing several layers of glass over the whole rudder (and certainly over everything with a crack in it). I bet you'll get several years of perfectly fine service out of it.

mac666 said:

Has anyone here ever opened one up to fix it???

Click to expand...

Yes. Here's the link to the project in detail on my website:

http://home.comcast.net/~independence31/rudder/rudder-intro.html

E-27 troubled rudder pix as promised

Hey, Peoples.
First of all - happy Mothers Day and a Victory Day(Russia)!
I took some pix of my rudder (see posting above about stress cracks in gelcoat...)
what do you think?
have you seen similar damage?
would surface patching be sufficient?
Thanks,
Mac

In my opinion, that's quite minor. Patch and proceed. Mine had rusty water dripping out of it that wouldn't stop oozing out, even after an extra summer season out of the water, indicating a saturated core. You have none of that.