Rudder Restoration

by Oscar Gelpi

The hatch drains on Dolphin have rotted away and the leakage into the bilge in turn rotted out the rudder board and caused heavy rust on the saltwater wash-down pump. The drains are up for repair soon but first I wanted to get the rudder board replaced.

In the first picture I have removed the connectors from the yokes and taken them to the bench grinder for cleanup. To the right you can see the rust on the pump and the rot underneath the wood stop.

The next picture shows the needlessly long bolts holding down the board. The two starboard bolts came out with a 9/16 socket, a pipe extension over the ratchet handle and a lot of muscle! The two port bolts snapped off about halfway down. To the left is a board onto which the trim tab hydraulics are mounted. The board attaches to the rudder board with 2 bronze screws that came out easily. I then attached a pair of vise grips on the rudder post below and for good measure a couple of hose clamps held a line to the post, the bitter end was then cleated off. The bronze collar on the shaft is removed by loosening the locknut and then backing out the set screw. Once the collar was loose and the rudder didn’t move I removed the rope and clamps and slid the collar and board off. It appears the rudder stayed put as a result of the hose clamp attached to the post which you can see in the next picture. I have no idea if that’s standard or if it was added by a previous owner. At the top left you can see where I replaced the ground wire that had broken off previously.

The next picture shows the wear plate that was screwed to the board under the collar. Some of the screws had to be drilled out. It cleaned up nicely. The old board was a solid piece of wood exactly 1” thick and 9" x 28". I replaced it with two pieces of ½" plywood laminated with West’s epoxy and clamped down. The plywood had a slight bend to it but by clamping the curves back to back it came out nice and flat. I carefully measured the position of the post and used a hole saw to cut out a hole for the post. 3 coats of West’s followed. The board is now in place with the collar and wear plate. I screwed the board down first, keeping the post centered in the hole before sliding on the wear plate. Be sure the set screw goes into the dimple on the post. If it doesn’t line up you may want to drill a new dimple.

Next you see the hardware for attaching the connector to the post and yoke. The connector goes over the shaft and woodruff key, tap it down gently until it reaches the level of the yoke. These connectors went on and off easily, especially with a little WD-40. Then insert the bolt through the front and tighten down snugly. (Caution! One side is threaded, the other is not. Put the bolt through the threaded side first!) The ground wire will attach to one of these bolts. The back end of the connector will attach to the yoke by means of a bronze clevis pin held fast by a bronze or stainless cotter pin. The nylon washer was my addition that I nixed at the last minute because it didn’t leave sufficient clearance for the clevis pin.

Next everything put together. Be sure to grease all the linkages and under the collar. Finally I cut new stops from scrap pressure treated 2x4 using the old blocks as a template. That’s a simple 45 degree cut, plus the board is cut down from 3 ½ “ to 2 ½ “. Add a couple of 4" long galvanized carriage bolts and you’re done.

Don’t forget to caulk all the screw holes!

If you have any questions you can e-mail me at Lyndagelpi@comcast.net