Can we see a forensic of the actual break?
And, please, how did it happen, again?
Can we see a forensic of the actual break?
And, please, how did it happen, again?
Post 157 explains it in greater detail, but in a nutshell I sailed her hard in 15-20 knot winds for two hours and I noticed a greater amount of play in the tiller the closer we got to our destination. When we went around the corner into Essex Bay to anchor the tide and wind were opposing each other but not in a consistent manner making it challenging to achor. We anchored and I set the tiller so that the boat would ride on the anchor without wrapping which is a common occurance where we were. The yacht club I am member of calls it the "Essex Wrap". With a lengthened wind gust we wrapped around our anchor rode which put an enormous amount of strain on the rudder and that's when we heard it crack. The tiller wne tloose and I immediately knew what had happened although I didn't know to what extent the damage was until later that day when we were back at our mooring. I was relieved to see that the top part of the rudder broke and that it appeared to be about 75% there which will give me a nice place to fabricate a repair from. I didn't dive down to get a better look I was just pearing down from the tender with a mask.
As far as the repair goes, I am trying to make a cheap adequite repair that will get me through the next two months of fair-weather sailing. Our cruising plans are to stay close to home and maybe do a couple 3-5 hour jaunts down or up the coast, but not venture too far from home and to certainly not push the boat as I have no real specs to go by for the integrity of this repair. On paper it looks Macgyverish enough to work, but for how long?
I will post lots of pictures for everyone to see. Close-ups of the damage, repair, etc. so that we have on this site an archived detail of a rudder failure. The repair will consist of a galvenized steel water pipe with a threaded elbow at the end on which another short piece of galvenized water pipe will be will be threaded into place. That short piece will act as the lateral piece that transfers the movement of the shaft (new vertical pipe) to movement of the blade. The threads will be glued together with epoxy and I might put a small amount of cloth around the elbow because I'm not sure how much strength this will actually have because this fitting was not designed for such an application. I also do not want the fitting to become unthreaded by the twisting motion of the tiller and resistance on the blade. The remaining piece of origianal rudder that is still there will be cut so that the lateral pipe rests on it evenly. I have copper strapping that I will then put over the top of the pipe and will screw it down to the original piece still there. This will hold it in place and provide some strength which will be needed to be able to move the rudder. I will then take two thin pieces of plywood that I cut out to match the original piece that is now missing and sandwhich over the lateral pipe being sure to leave a healthy lip over the remaing original rudder. I have four stainless bolts with large fender washers that are going to clamp this together. I am also going to screw in a bunch of galvenized screws into the two pieces of plywood from both sides because the resin holding the plywood together will surely be inadequite and the wood is going to want to seperate in a short while. The screws will mechanically hold the ply pieces together even if the resin dissolves. This should create a reapir that will be adequite to do some light sailing. I spent $38 at home depot the other night and I think I have everything I need to perform the repair. If it does work I saved my sailing season for less than 40 bucks. If it doesn't work, oh well, at least I had a cool problem to wrap my brain around and someone will know what not to do if this happens to them.
Feel free to light this idea on fire or blow it out of the water as I plan to do the repair Tuesday and have time to change course. This winter when I fabricate a new rudder from scratch it will be very strong and well made.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 06-30-2007 at 02:13 PM.
rudder incident
Gee, Tim,
With the 'essex wrap' a constant
sounds like you guys should have a spare rudder, or two, ready to whip on after your anchoring events.
OK, it sounds like you got the anchor rope over the top of the rudder and the forces pulled it down and across at an angle - breaking off the 'top' of the rudder blade. This being a regular occurance is mind boggling.
And since there is opportunity here in the design of the Ariel rudder, there is the possiblity that the rudder shaft got bent!!! Or that the rudder tube got compromised at the hull join. Might have a crack.
An immediate thought is to cut the top of the repaired rudder at an angle so that THE WARP WILL SLIP AND NOT HANG UP ON THE TOP OF THE RUDDER. Seems actually like a shippy thing to do in this case.
We did talk about breakaway rudder tops and bottoms. The negative slope on the top of the rudder could be replaced with a small 'block' of high-density PVC (Divinycell) carved fair with the rudder - bringing the top back to its usual form. Maybe you could get it to stay with polysulfide, but you'd probably have to epoxy goop it on. Thing is, it would act as a a breakaway and give you your hydrodydamics and be easily replaceable. Wouldn't fill it or paint it.
Or just leave the top of the rudder sloped down and see what it actually does to your sailing efficiency.
Sounds like you people are normally anchoring in the middle of a maelstrom. Couldn't the situation be controlled better with a bow AND stern anchor?
But of more concern is
you are saying that the tiller had more play in it as the day progressed. You, ofcourse, have replaced the sleeve/O-ring bearing at the top of the rudder tube. (?) You can get the replacement right here at the Association Store at cost. Worth every penny. It'll will cure a loose rudder shaft that has play in it and allow you to 'feel' the water again.
There could be other issues at the top of the rudder like with your tiller fitting.
See that the 'clamp' screw is functioning and that the key hasn't deteriorated in the key way. Or that the tiller fitting is in it's proper position and everything is snug.
By the by,
for those attempting to drop their rudder for the first time,
you should slip the sleeve bearing up and out of the rudder tube befor you attempt to lift and move the rudder over to drop it past the shoe.
Jury repairs are always interesting and instructive. Looking forward.
Last edited by ebb; 07-01-2007 at 07:30 AM.
Anytime you have opposing forces that are not equal but alternate in strength (wind gust, lull, etc) the makings are there for a swing which brings the potential for a wrap. The Merrimack river where I keep my boat has a strong current and ten foot tides and keel wraps happen at the moorings too. When I worked at the yacht club in college I would see it occur a half dozen times a season in our mooring field. I can't see this being a uniquely New England thing though. Anywhere there is current and wind it should occur if the current and wind battle for superiority. In Essex it happens during a tide change when there is an oppposing wind and due to the bay's location, size, and topography it isn't uncommon. It isn't usually a major event, just an annoyance as I have experienced in the past. If you were a powerboat which is the majority of vessels frequenting this place due to the shallow nature of the entrance you would just go in circles. A fin keel of a sailboat can get in trouble as the rode can make it between the skeg or spade and the keel itself. I have seen people really gt themselves into a bind (literally) this way. A full keeled sailboat allows the rode to slip right off with some help in getting it moving the opposite direction it wrapped, but if the forces are strong enough, the tension is significant and the rode is against the rudder causing it to go hard to one side and the rudder itself is bearing the brunt of the force. Not ideal, especially for a piece of mahogany shrouded in FRP for 35 years. What made my event interesting and different from other experiences I have had there was the strength of the wind and how gusty it was. When a blalance was met, the rules changed as the wind strength changed. This is what put a lot of strain on the rudder which caused the failure. I have anchored there many times without incident, but like I mentioned before, if there is a tide shift or a wind shift that causes the opposing forces, it can happen. Some certainly do anchor bow and stern and I had my spare anchor in the dinghy and planned to set it before we headed into the beach where I wouldn't be able to stop this from occuring, but it happened less than 5 minutes after we anchored. In hindsite, I should have set the stern anchor earlier, or kept tention on the rudder for a little bit with the mototr in revrese as I assesed the anchoring conditions better, maybe I should have gone up river a little farther to find a possible lee closer to shore. It's always 20/20 isn't it? On a lighter day it would have been a slow event that would have been fixed as it was happening or worst case I would have gotten in the dinghy afterwards to fix it then set the stern anchor. The speed of the current and wind that day was what did it. Live and learn. May others watch my experiences and learn from them. These are the stories that live on and we drink beer over and laugh at in the future.Originally Posted by ebb
I checked the tube and did not see any problems, but I will certainly check things again once I head out Monday night.
That is a good idea. Instead of having the rudder go all the way to the hull, have a gap of some sort that rode or some other entanglement could go to. This would put the force on the shaft which would be a llowed to bend just a small amount, but would avoid that same force on the rudder.
No, but we do have Old Sow which is the largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere up there in Maine.
Tim,
If I understand, you ARE making a temporary repair so you can continue summer cruising....?
why not continue the curve of the rudder to the shaft. In other words: jigsaw the 'square top' into a curve - so that there is NO FLAT OF ANY KIND to hang up the anchor rode on! And if your temporary repairs are fairly smooth and hydro you can get a feel for the missing area. It is MINOR but must be important because the master left it there in both the ear shaped rudder and the constellation style.
So that even if the anchor rode is pulled across the rudder - which is also pulled hard over - the rode will have to slip!!! So that even if the rudder is pulled out at right angles to the boat like a barn door, there is no ledge for the line to hang up on. Only curves. Have to make it so that line will NEVER hang up the way you describe again!
Last edited by ebb; 07-01-2007 at 10:22 AM.
The rudder is repaired and it works.
The repair pictures are on a disk at my house so those will have to wait, but I made up a couple photoshop pics showing the process. Remember that this is a temporary repair to get me through the season and that MacGyverisms are not my norm as I have hopefully proven over the past few months. There is however a certain level of satisfaction and pride involved with making such a repair on the cheap and while it is in the water and on the mooring.
My friend and I dove down and removed the two bronze bolts holding the strap in place. Those came off easy. Prying the strap off of the hull was tougher as I had used 5200 last spring to attach it to the hull. With the right tools and some persuasion we got it off and bent it back enough to lift the rudder out of the shoe. This took us about an hour to complete. Now we had rudder in hand and brought it up on deck where we motored to the dock to do the work.
Here is a photoshop rendition of what the rudder look like when it was removed. The pins coming out of the shaft were broken off and the wood snapped along the grain down to the cutout for the prop aperture.
We decided to make a lateral cut using a pull saw so that the steel pipr could key into the rudder taking advantage of the upper half and lower half that were left once it was sandwiched.
Here is a picture of where we made the cut. BTW-I suck at photoshop when using my laptop which has a touchpad so blur your eyes and imagine a little looking at these photos.
Next, using galvenized 1" steel plumbing pipe we made a shaft attached to a 90 degree elbow off of which was the pipe that keyed into the cutout of the rudder. The two pipes attached to the elbow were set in thickened epoxy and then coated with three layers of cloth running up about 6 inches on each pipe. This was to strngthen the casting of the elbow which was not designed for the forces t was going to undergo and it also sealed the threads and prevents the pipe from unthreading itself out of the elbow when sailing. THis part was pretty straight forward and took about 30 minutes to do and we let it cure for three hours in the hot sun. Once cured, we set the piece into the cutout made earlier in the rudder.
We then sandwhiched the pipe using copper roof flashing on both sides of the lateral pipe followed by 1/4 inch plywood, and on the outside of the ply placed another piece of copper flashing where the lateral pipe is. The flashing was so that the pipe had something solid to push against if the plywood got soft which I'm sure it will as it is regular grade ply (again to make the repair cheap.) I then began screwing galvenized screws into the plywood every couple of inches or so. I put fifty on one side which sandwiched the plywood and flashing to the pipe and what was left of the original rudder. Then I flipped it over and broke off the screw threads that werte sticking through and crewed fifty more going the other way, then flipped it over again and broke the threads of those. At this point it was pretty well sandwiched with no movement of the pipe. We then drilled two 1/4 inch holes just above the copper flashing and two below and used four stainless steel bolts with fender washers and locking nuts to clamp it to the pipe. Then we trimmed the plywood so that it followed the lines of the original rudder and that was it, a new rudder.
It looked something like this once done.
+
Having the rudder completed, we went back out to the mooring and slid it up into the tube and set it in the rudder shoe with no problem. THe strap however was a problem. It was the biggest pain trying to get it back through and have it straight enough to line the holes up so that the bolts fit through. It took use about two hours to do this part believe it or not. I'm trying to work out a strap that might be a little easier to take off and put back on in the water. Maybe enlarging the holes and using washers which would allow for a little more play to get the bolts through would work? Speaking of bolts I am very glad I went that route instead of going with the original peened rods that were there originally. I cannot foresee how one could get the strap off underwater with peened ends. Also, I used carraige bolts to reduce the drag, but in hindsight I think it would have been much easier to have a regular hex head bolt. THat way you don't need to grab it with channel locks if you cannot get it to key in all the way to get it started like we had to do.
Here is the sutset we came back too after motoring around for a while testing it out.
I spent about $60 and it took a whole day to start and finish this repair. So far we have cruised to the Ilses of Shoals for a few days and sailed in 15 knot winds close-hauled with no problems at all. We have logged about 50 NM with the repaired rudder. I don't think I'll push it in high winds, but 15 knots was quite fun and typical for a nice day here and the rudder worked perfect.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 07-27-2007 at 11:29 AM.
On our way in 5-10 knot winds. (I opted to flush mount the depth sounder for now for the sake of ease as Bill suggested, it's set in 3M 4200. Yes, that is duct tape you are seeing on the bulkhead. I've been too lazy to fill the holes left from the obnoxious box put in by the PO that I removed.)
A shot of my friends CD27 on the way there.
A very happy camper at the tiller. The indoctrination continues...
Family chilling out down below in the V-berth.
Approaching the Isles after about 12 miles of sailing. This is looking at the White Island Light. The port winch is being reconditioned due to it sticking often in case you were wondering where it was in that shot.
At anchor in Gosport Harbor, Maine.
A sunset, a successful anchoring, a happy wife and kid, a cold beer, a rudder that works...does it get any better?
My wife burning through the new Harry Potter book using our new berth lights.
This is the next morning looking at my boat with my buddies CD27 rafted up beside. I have a 22lb delta that I use for my primary anchor with 50 feet of 5/16" chain and 150 feet of 3/4 inch rode. The anchor held he and I well with no dragging and it set on the first try. I also have a 35lb bruce anchor with 50 feet of 5/16" chain and 150 ' of 3/4" rode, and a big danforth with a short amount of chain and 150 feet of rode. We took this picture from Smuttynose Island.
Here's a shot of that CD27 as we headed back to Newburyport.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 07-27-2007 at 12:31 PM.
Taken forever to go thru rudder trauma on Little Gull - finally ending up with a slightly different rudder than most but hung just the same as everybody elses.
FYI. Made up and had cast in bronze a TWO PART gudgeon fitting.
The idea is that it will clamp around the rudder shaft.
One side is meant to stay in place on the keel while the other is taken off to allow the rudder to be lifted up and moved out sideways to drop it. The bolts are long enough to hold both pieces - but the static side is held on with nuts that turn in onto the fiberglass of the keel - then the other half is put on those bolt ends and snugged with more nuts. The rudder will drop on one side of the shoe, port side only in this case. Just came out that way.
If you remember which side to take off, it would be a matter of just unscrewing the nuts to release the gudgeon effect. If underwater you wouldn't want to drop that half of the gudgeon. Nuts you can replace.
Once the sleeve bearing is removed from the top of the rudder tube, there may be enough room, once the rudder is below the shoe, to move the rudder around a bit and away from the fitting. Don't know yet.
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