[C320-list] Rudder Issues

[Chris Burti]

The was a common issue with the old Cal's, most of which were over 30 years
old. When we owned our Cal 27-T/2, I was active on the Cal owner's list and
the consensus of that list was that  your first example was best and the
third was acceptable and to avoid the second.

The first method is the correct way to make the repair, the third was a
workable patch which I actually used. The problem for me was that the
plastic wore out or slipped down and you had to repeat the patch after a
fairly short time. No big deal, but annoying.

The problem with the second option is that if the rudder post wear has been
going on long enough, there is a very good chance that the rudder post has
worn into an oval not just a smaller round as it rotates back and forth,
not around and around. As a result, if you inject epoxy, it makes it very
difficult to turn the rudder because you have an oval post in what has now
become a close fitting oval tube. Second point is that you will actually
need to remove the rudder from the tube because you will have to wax the
rudder post or the epoxy will bond the rudder post to the tube.

Some of the Cal owners would drop their rudder while in the water because
if they weren't waterlogged, they were semi-buoyant. I do recall one
skipper's tale of neglecting to tie off the rudder while doing a solo drop
whereupon it sank  and drifted off down river in the current...


Chris Burti
Commitment #867
Farmville, NC



On Thu, Aug 8, 2019 at 1:25 PM Joe Geiger <joe.geiger at gmail.com> wrote:

> I found 3 solutions for repairing my rudder thud. Seems like this is a
> common problem that most sailboats have that use a rudder post to attach
> the rudder to the boat as opposed to a pintle and gudgeon attachment off
> the transom.
>
> The first are 2 rubber bushings that you slide over the rudder post down
> into the fiberglass rudder tube that keeps the rudder post centered. This
> looks like it requires the boat to be hauled and the rudder to be removed
> so the bushings can be slid down from the top of the post.
>
> The second is an epoxy kit that has you drill 3 holes in the fiberglass
> rudder tube and then use a syringe to push epoxy into the rudder tube.
> Looks like this can be done with the boat still in the water.
>
> The third is a suggestion I read from another forum where you cut pieces
> of plastic milk jug and slide them down the tube to keep the rudder from
> moving in the tube. This can also be done with the boat in the water
>
> Has anyone else done any of these?
>
> Joe
> --
> Joe Geiger
> Vega #722
> Greenwich Cove, RI