Cpete, that's definitely the same design as 338's,
but not the same animal. It looks wasted.
You need to have the golden welding rod awarded you to stick bronze. Welding is melting two pieces of similar metals together. It's tricky to do with bronze, I never succeeded in mastering it properly. In fact I had to take my work to a master to have it done right.
So what tillerhead do you have now?
[Have you analysed what happened to cause the crack?
Bronze is soft alright, but a piece of those dimensions would take some force to bend it. It would have to be bent more than once to get that crack. Being a casting, tho, it may only take One bend.
We have the tiller acting as a lever. So, did the rudder shaft and blade hit refusal (stop hard against something like the hull? Or a rock, Or the Bottom?) - and the tiller was pushed further on? Or was the tiller used violently to attempt to skull the boat?
Maybe the tiller was down in the cockpit and something came along that pushed against the rudder blade, pushed it too far, and something had to give. That something being the strap or ear on the tiller fitting. It certainly Should have been the tiller to get broke, NOT the fitting!
Aside from being more cautious next time, next time always different than the last two last times, what precautions are there to take? Rubber stops, a more sophisticated tillerhead?
If that's the place where the fitting breaks maybe another piece of bronze plate could be welded over this weak point.]
Better to have the tiller break than the fitting!!!
Reply With Quote