Fwd: [Cal_Boats] Floating Rudder (Adam)

Pictures wouldn't go through. I had to re-send without them. Will try to re-size them and send them next week! ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: dn… [at] comcast.net To: "Cal Boats" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 10:06:24 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Floating Rudder (Adam) When we shipped our Cal 33-2 from Alameda, CA to Portland, OR it became very clear that the "heavy" feel to the helm was not from the cables needing to be greased, but rather because the rudder had split at the top and was full of water. There were also cracks on the bottom edge. I am 100% certain that this failure occurred due to the boat going in and out of the mud twice daily for almost a year in San Leandro's marina. The rudder had split right at the seam by the rudder post where the pressure would be the greatest while aground. We decided to repair the rudder and looked at dropping it out of the boat. The post extends a good two and a half feet up into the boat and we only had 8 inches clearance to the ground at the rudder. On the hard at Schooner Creek on Hayden Island is literally on the hard -- it is an asphalt surface. No digging was going to occur to drop the rudder. They were going to lift the boat with the travel lift as we dropped the rudder -- in other words, set the rudder on the ground and then lift the boat off of it. (Owners of Hunt designed Cals be aware!!) Unfortunately, my maintenance schedule on my boat had never included the attachment of the quadrant to the rudder post. The quadrant is aluminum, the bolts are stainless, and the rudder post is stainless. This will be my first complaint EVER as to how my boat was put together. Nothing was done to isolate the stainless and the aluminum and the bolts would not budge and the quadrant is probably welded to the post. It will take a destructive force to make this repair someday as I was not willing to go there at this time! So, using the Fein Multi Master (that I purchased after several of you on this list crowed about it's usefulness!) I cut away the old glass from the top of the rudder and slightly down the sides. I then built layers of glass using small pieces of repair cloth and West Systems epoxy until there were about 6 layers of roving on the rudder top. I also laid long strips of glass along the bottom edge and repaired all "thin" looking edges on the rudder. I re-built the top of the rudder using fairing materials in the West Systems epoxy. Pictures attached. So far the repair is holding. The helm is back to being light again. And, I am soaking the post and quadrant about once a month with WD-40 in hopes that some day those bolts might actually turn again! Don Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Adam Thorp" <th… [at] gmail.com> To: "Cal Boats" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 3:35:58 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Floating Rudder Charlie, Can you explain this 'blocked ashore' business. The picture I get in my head, is a trench dug into the sand, deep enough for keel to sit. Bring the boat up on high tide and you can work on the bottomside while the tide is out. Is that the thinking? Sounds precarious! Have any pictures? More details needed! Or a few keywords to aid in my google fu. Adam On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 3:12 PM, Husar, Charlie [USA] (ASE) < hu… [at] bah.com > wrote: Someone asked if CAL rudders float. Answer is (as always) "Depends!" All new ones float. Even bob like corks. Glas over foam with a steel tube with internal fingers. It is in fact hard to put one of these back in while in the water due to the buoyancy. It takes an almost erotic physical move. R-rated description available. I once removed a waterlogged rudder from a 25 while boat was blocked ashore (Aside: Block boat up a foot at keel base, so you don't have to dig a hole to get the rudder down.) Curiosity got to me, and I threw the rudder into the water. It floated, but like an iceberg. Almost completely under. This tells me that it is possible that a really waterlogged rudder might sink, although I've never seen one go down. The sinking rudder would have to be in pretty bad shape. Put a piece of netting under the rudder just in case. You could tell about the time you got the rudder cap off. If floating, the rudder stock will bob up and down in the rudder tube. If sinking, it disappears. If you can find a way to grip the pipe while removing the cap, you have an extra safety margin. Cheers Charlie