Proposal for a simple take apart rudder gudgeon
Tim, Nice work!!!
The strap is bent perfectly. I still don't know how you did it.
I had a couple fanagles. One of them was at least six feet long. Coming across Country one March in my pickup some SOB in Ohio stole them both.
Have an idea that would make life easier to get the rudder shaft free from the grudgeon.
OK, take that 1/8" stuff, or better something thicker like 3/16" or 1/4" 655, and bend that perfect 'U' loop Tim has there. Then, right in the center of the loop, cut it in half. Cut it in half into equal 'J' pieces.
With the rudder in place, position and mount one J piece. It's OK here to use fully threaded carriage bolts. Where the bolts come through the KEEL make holes in the fiberglass for a washer and nut (the keel SHOULD be solid in this area) so that when the bolts are cinched the nuts end up FLUSH with the keel surface with the bolt ends sticking out. If you are using 1/4" bolts the hole including a split washer won't need to be more than 1/2" deep.
Then take the other half gudgeon slip it on the bolts and cinch it up with more nuts. You have clamped the midway rudder shaft in place.
To remove the rudder unscrew the nuts, take off the 'J' half gudgeon and (after preparing the shaft in the cockpit) move the shaft UP and sideways out of the shoe.
You do have a slit down the middle of the gudgeon.
My thinking on this is that the fitting itself does little work, It's there as a keeper. Most rudders are able to rise a little when lifted from below. The purpose of the gudgeon is to make sure the rudder drops back down into the recess in the shoe. The six feet of rudder shaft is held at the top with the sleeve-bearing and at the bottom where 3/4" of it is buried in the shoe. The rudder blade keeps the shaft straight - SO it could be said that the gudgeon is essentially a backup. An essential backup.
But you see what I"m getting at: there is little action by the rudder that could bend the split gudgeon apart.
And if the 'J's did get bent a little, bang them back in place. It's impossible to see how they could get bent.
[YES, well, it could happen that you go aground, the rudder is jambed up against the hull no longer in the shoe. Then some sideways action with the weight of the boat bends the rudder where it enters the tube. OK, there's is an argument for a full strap. Therefor 1/4" bronze for extra beef in a split version]
There are probably some fancy hydrodynamic fastener options. But this should work good enough. With carriage bolts, you always will have a clue which side the nuts are on. I would put all nuts on with nevah-seize and try sculpting small mounds of putty or rubber on the exposed nuts for protection.
It's not unreasonable to make our rudder removable, correct?
You boats with plank rudder blades in the North East who winter on the hard could remove and keep them plumped up and happy until spring in a cozy salt water tub. No shrinkage, hey what!
There you go,
is it not a simple method to take the rudder off without removing the gudgeon?
This is only an idea at this point
and imco as always.
Thing about working under water is that nobody can hear you cussing:rolleyes:
And it WAS you Tim, wasn't it, who invented the in water method of rudder removal....? Did you use the boom?
This is a real option that avoids the expense of yard hoisting the boat.
It's also a viable cruiser option, a way of getting a damaged rudder off a floating boat.