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I took the boat out for its first sail this year and lost the rudder.
Do you guys think this is reparable or am I buying a new boat? It’d be a shame to lose her over something so stupid
That’s not very typical, I’d like to make that point.
Luckily it was outside the environment when this occurred
What sort of materials were used in construction?
Well no cardboard that's for sure
This happened mid sail, but we were fortunate enough to get a tow back to the dock and on a lift
I’m glad it was this and not the mast
They’re making a joke. https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM
Lol that’s the first time ive seen that
Well now you’ll get the joke anytime someone says the front fell off 😅. It’s pretty often referenced.
Oof! That sounds exciting. What took the rudder off?
A wave hit it.
A wave - in the ocean? chance in a million.
I wish I could tell you.
My best guess is that the pin bounced out when i was trying to help my wife uncleat the jib and the pressure just ripped the rudder right off. It was just a perfect storm of a large wind gust, waves, and a hardware failure
I hope you get it fixed and back on the water soon.
Thank you sbv!
Hope you can get it fixed and enjoy the water!
You forgot too-flimsy engineering for the conditions.
c a marchaj & Dave Gerr both spoke against too-flimsy engineering, & the industry generally doesn't care ( boats which disappear don't make headlines: only ones noticed to be disappearing do, right? )
That boat needs to, if fixed, NEVER go into conditions as rough as what it was in.
It may well have been oversold/under-engineered for what the marketing said it was for.
Please consider investing in both Dave Gerr's "Elements of Boat Strength" & a book named "Surveying Yachts And Small Craft",
and then earn enough understanding to figure out how sound your boat is.
Those 2 books cost drastically less than a new boat, & they'll help you in any future boat-purchases you make, too.
Warning, though: nearly no boats are up to Gerr's scantlings ( thicknesses of different areas of a hull, for all who haven't been dredged through boatish lingo before ).
( other authors worth investing-in: Nigel Calder & Tom Cunliffe )
_ /\ _
Met some orcas?
But sure, that looks repairable.
No orcas but maybe some very aggressive large mouth bass lol.
Glad to hear it might be repairable though. I spend god knows how long last month repairing hairline cracks in the hull, I’d at least like to do some sailing this season
lost the rudder
You need to retrace your steps, figure out where you last saw it, and look there.
Totally repairable. Surely its not cosmetic but you can fix much worse in fiberglass. Can you get a replacement rudder? The hull repair is one thing but fabricating a new rudder and tiller is another.
That’s a good question. I’m pretty sure I can, those I might try to fit a different style since the original set up wasn’t great
If you were me, would you try to use the same wood that’s there or replace the whole structure?
I can hardly see the wood inside but if it’s dry, hard and not damaged by the rip out then why not. Shouldn’t be hard to bond a new panel to the wood and then laminate it to the rest of the structure. Was the rudder hinge bolted to this wood? Because if it was then i’m not sure how it could’ve ripped out so cleanly.
It’s hard to tell, but I’ll do some poking around today.
The original hardware was drilled into the wood over the panel and sealed. The rudder had a pin that went through the mount and it’s own hardware. That pin likely bounced out and torqued the whole piece off.
Thank you for the advice!
Rudder? I barely know ‘er!
You should really get to know her before you rudder.