rudder stock /rudder blade

mikeprojectboat · Post by **mikeprojectboat** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:28 am

Read the remarks about rudder probs, you guys do know that I have the patterns and moulds for new rudders and stocks.???? The new alloy rudder stock that I make,is stronger than the old(SAME SHAPE BUT A BIT THICKER,AND 1/4 HARD) and the blade has a 1/4 thick alloyplate running the lenth of the blade and is also foam filled.There was some pics of the stock and blade on tha on the old yahoo site,? did they get moved.? REGARDS TO ALL, MIKE ,IN A SUNNY BUT COLD NORFOLK.!

gff_cook · Post by **gff_cook** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:01 am

.... and bloody good rudders they are, too - as the one Mike did for Quadrille's performed very well - strength and no slop - in its first season 2007!

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:19 am

Wish I'd known that before I started on my own project. Mine has a core made of 4 sheets of marine ply ground down and shaped then covered with alternate layers of chop strand and cloth. It remains to be seen how strong it is. See attached pic

jjspicer · Post by **jjspicer** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:27 am

Mike
I would love to have a new rudderand stock but the shipping from the UK to the Middle East would be expensive if it weight much. Using my rudder as to get an idea of weight might be miss leading if it has aborbed water.
Can you forward the plans for the stock so I can have a try at making my own?
________
Buy Herbalaire Vaporizer

robvega · Post by **robvega** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:57 pm

Terry,
I think your rudder should be ok for strength, mine is made from ply too and shows no sign of stress. Obviously the thickness will be the same so as to fit the stock. May be too late for you now but I fitted a length of brass strip (well fared in) to the bottom edge & corners to save the ply from the inevitable contact with a rocky bottom!!
Rob

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:14 am

Thanks for the tip Rob. May be I'll see if I can re-enforce the base retrospectively.

John Hainsworth · Post by **John Hainsworth** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:38 am

Hi,
I've finally got round to repairing my rudder. A friend has made me a stock but I have two problems, slop in gudgeons and slop in blade/stock.

I'm thinking of bushing the pintels and building up the inner sides of the stock to get round this.

A further problems is that I have a mud mooring and can visualise problems getting to it with the rudder down and also with it up as the steering will be heavy. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Finally the rudder is very heavy and I was wondering if it needs to be so wide as a final solution may be to reduce the width and arrange for the blade to slide up inside the stock instead of pivotting.

Any comments positive or negative would be welcomed.

John :-s :-s :-s

Elwyn Williams · Post by **Elwyn Williams** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:30 pm

A word of caution if I may, many years ago when my swift (Apus Melba) was about 18 months old I was returning to the Hamble from Cowes, 4 well built persons on board in heavy weather, (We had to get back to college otherwise probably would not have chanced the crossing) However I digress,

Having made the crossing in just about 25 mins with the boat surfing & planing most of the way, The main fully reefed & working Jib up on a broad reach all the way across (nearly being blown flat just off Cowes harbour),

The helm was hard work, it was not until we overshot the collage pier (Warsash) & eventually came about just off Warsash harbour master's jetty, to find the judder had bent approx 5 degrees off the vertical.

I went & had a chat with John Charnley (JCA Marine) he arranged for the rudder to be straightened & slightly strengthened. I also got an additional gudgeon from him & fitted just above the lower one on the stern to prevent the stock from lifting, he was most interested in this mod, but I don't think it was ever rolled out. However it certainly worked for the last 25 years anyway. I believe the clunking sound mentioned on a recent posting whilst using the outboard I believe this is due to the rudder slightly lifting with the wash & then returning to the down position originally when this happened to me the rudder blade was coming into contact with the hull, the above mod cured the problem.

My point is I would strongly advise caution if you intend to lighten or slim down the rudder.

Taking a mud mooring in restricted draught could be a problem with a dagger style rudder I would certainly keep to a swinging rudder as was,

This is the only part of the boat that I have had experience of major problems with, other than the usual water ingress around the side windows which was resolved by drilling through & bolting instead of self tappers.

Elwyn Williams

email :- elwynjrwilliams@aol.com

This e-mail contains information some or all of which may be legally privileged. It is for attention and use of the intended recipient only. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print, take any action on this e-mail. Internet communications are not secure and therefore the sender does not accept legal responsibility for the contents or attachments of this message.

In a message dated 25/03/2010 08:38:32 GMT Standard Time, forum-tillerkeel@swift18.org writes:

Hi,
I've finally got round to repairing my rudder. A friend has made me a stock but I have two problems, slop in gudgeons and slop in blade/stock.

I'm thinking of bushing the pintels and building up the inner sides of the stock to get round this.

A further problems is that I have a mud mooring and can visualise problems getting to it with the rudder down and also with it up as the steering will be heavy. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Finally the rudder is very heavy and I was wondering if it needs to be so wide as a final solution may be to reduce the width and arrange for the blade to slide up inside the stock instead of pivotting.

Any comments positive or negative would be welcomed.

John

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

John Hainsworth · Post by **John Hainsworth** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:55 pm

Hi Elwyn,

Thanks for the info.,all useful.

My rudder has two gudgeons on the stock for each gudgeon on the transome
so it can't lift.

I've solved the slop problem, so I'm going to try it before
experimenting further.

I've also decided to stay with the original spec. to avoid the
possibility of broaching.

Tomorrow I'm experimenting with raising the mast.

Cheers John

Elwyn Williams wrote:

A word of caution if I may, many years ago when my swift (Apus Melba)
was about 18 months old I was returning to the Hamble from Cowes, 4
well built persons on board in heavy weather, (We had to get back to
college otherwise probably would not have chanced the crossing)
However I digress,

Having made the crossing in just about 25 mins with the boat surfing &
planing most of the way, The main fully reefed & working Jib up on a
broad reach all the way across (nearly being blown flat just off Cowes
harbour),

The helm was hard work, it was not until we overshot the collage pier
(Warsash) & eventually came about just off Warsash harbour master's
jetty, to find the judder had bent approx 5 degrees off the vertical.

I went & had a chat with John Charnley (JCA Marine) he arranged for
the rudder to be straightened & slightly strengthened. I also got an
additional gudgeon from him & fitted just above the lower one on the
stern to prevent the stock from lifting, he was most interested in
this mod, but I don't think it was ever rolled out. However it
certainly worked for the last 25 years anyway. I believe the clunking
sound mentioned on a recent posting whilst using the outboard I
believe this is due to the rudder slightly lifting with the wash &
then returning to the down position originally when this happened to
me the rudder blade was coming into contact with the hull, the above
mod cured the problem.

My point is I would strongly advise caution if you intend to lighten
or slim down the rudder.

Taking a mud mooring in restricted draught could be a problem with a
dagger style rudder I would certainly keep to a swinging rudder as was,

This is the only part of the boat that I have had experience of major
problems with, other than the usual water ingress around the side
windows which was resolved by drilling through & bolting instead of
self tappers.

Elwyn Williams

email :- elwynjrwilliams@aol.com

This e-mail contains information some or all of which may be legally
privileged. It is for attention and use of the intended recipient
only. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this
e-mail, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute,
copy, print, take any action on this e-mail. Internet communications
are not secure and therefore the sender does not accept legal
responsibility for the contents or attachments of this message.

In a message dated 25/03/2010 08:38:32 GMT Standard Time,
forum-tillerkeel@swift18.org <mailto:forum-tillerkeel@swift18.org> writes:
*:*
Hi,
I've finally got round to repairing my rudder. A friend has made me a
stock but I have two problems, slop in gudgeons and slop in blade/stock.

I'm thinking of bushing the pintels and building up the inner sides of
the stock to get round this.

A further problems is that I have a mud mooring and can visualise
problems getting to it with the rudder down and also with it up as the
steering will be heavy. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Finally the rudder is very heavy and I was wondering if it needs to be
so wide as a final solution may be to reduce the width and arrange for
the blade to slide up inside the stock instead of pivotting.

Any comments positive or negative would be welcomed.

John

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elwyn Williams

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Sent using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com).

Read this topic online here:
http://www.swift18.org/Swift18/phpBB2/v ... =2839#2839

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

John Hainsworth · Post by **John Hainsworth** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:57 pm

Thanks Dave,

It's good to know I'll be able to reach my mooring and I take the point
about hitting something.

John

adler1197 wrote:

Hi John ...... the tiller is very heavy with the blade up but it is
also very effective! - so getting into your moorings shouldn't be a
prob. As for vertical lifting I'd be a bit worried incase I hit
anything .. easily done if you've got the keel raised.
Dave

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Sent using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com).

Read this topic online here:
http://www.swift18.org/Swift18/phpBB2/v ... =2840#2840

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

robvega · Post by **robvega** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:46 pm

John
If the rudder is heavy normaly, is it fully down? It should go down beyond lining up with the front of the stock!
Rob

robvega · Post by **robvega** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:53 pm

John
If the rudder is heavy normaly, is it fully down? It should go down beyond lining up with the front of the stock!
Rob

John Hainsworth · Post by **John Hainsworth** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 4:02 pm

Thanks Rob,

I'm getting there gradually.

robvega wrote:

John
If the rudder is heavy normaly, is it fully down? It should go down
beyond lining up with the front of the stock!
Rob

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Sent using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com).

Read this topic online here:
http://www.swift18.org/Swift18/phpBB2/v ... =2846#2846

-------------------- m2f --------------------

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

David mclardie · Post by **David mclardie** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:26 am

Hi all ..i was checking my boat last night and found that the rod holding the rudder onto the stern has snapped .its a stainless steel rod with a bolt welded on top with a locking ring at the bottom but near the top of the rod it had a hole drilled in it what looks to be a shear point and this is where it snapped is this a standard rod or an after market retro fit

thanks for any help

Regards

David

Swift 18 Owners