A-376 Afloat

[Hull376]

I made a drawing of the shaft for the machine shop. Houston doesn’t have many mom and pop machine shops anymore They all cater to the oil and gas industry and have very expensive equipment and most don’t want to deal with small walk in projects. But I found one with “the new guy” who was willing to do it for a reasonable price. The computer controlled equipment was overkill, but was fun to watch. Note that I changed the depth of the blind holes for the bolts from 5/8” to 3/4” when Ebb recommended some more threads in the shaft. Machining included two key slots, six blind threaded holes and a machined boss at the bottom of the shaft for the rudder shoe bearing. The extra key slot is in case I need to replace the tiller head. They can be on either side of the fitting depending on the brand. I’m currently using a replacement Edson tiller head, which has the key slot on the opposite side from the original. The forum has found a variety of lengths for the rudder shaft so make sure you have a plan if you can’t measure yours. Mine is a little bit longer than it probably needs to be, we’re talking 1/2” here, but I can shorten it if needed.

[Hull376]

I had no idea how to route the 1” cove which mates up with the 1” diameter shaft. A neighbor told me to make a table out of pine boards by taking two boards and nailing them together at a 90 degree angle, Then use two of these clamped to each side of the rudder, with fences nailed so the router cuts the cove in the middle. Easier to see a photo than describe it. I was off a little on one of the fences, so a couple of inches of the cove were not exactly centered. Didn’t matter.

[Hull376]

This step concerned me the most. Used the 3/8” X 12” drill bit. If one hole was off a little, it would prevent sliding the rudder all the way into the rudder shaft, or it would get stuck and be difficult to remove. Six holes, lots of chances for a slight miss-drill. But I carefully measured the hole centers per the shaft plans. Then I measured them again. Need to include the dimension to the bottom of the shaft when marking off the dimensions on the rudder (position of the rudder from bottom of the shaft). Only drill a few inches, remove the bit from the hole, clear the cuttings, then go a few more inches. No speed bits! I used some WD 40 on the bit to keep it spinning cleanly in the doweling jig as it got hot. Drilling for the drifts doesn’t have to be as exact, and is quicker. And drifts hammer in fast if you use the right undersized drill bit.

After drilling, I inserted the shaft with the threaded rod screwed in place and it fit.