Rubber broken - out of water?

[Dr_RedShoe]

My rudder broke yesterday. The fairing is completely gone on one side. Has anyone had this before? Does anyone know if both sides are overlapping laminated? Do I have to lift my Bavaria out of the water to remove the rudder and screw it back on later?XRKHVT

[tiger79]

I'd assume the boat has a Jefa rudder, these are quite complicated mouldings and I think you'd be better fitting a new rudder rather than trying to re-attach one side.  I'll add a link to the Jefa website, showing the construction of the rudder.

https://www.jefa.com/blade/blade.htm

[Dr_RedShoe]

we have expanded it. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with what material we should repair it with?


I despair of this question when posting. What is the correct answer that the system will accept for "A bearing of 90° is due ...:"?

[Yngmar]

How did it break like this? Do you have the other half of the shell or can you find it?

If so, it can be laminated back together, but it's not a small job, there's lots of grinding to be done first and the expanding foam will ideally be removed and refilled first.

It sounds like you'd best find an experienced GRP worker to do this for you, it's not a job suitable for first time fibreglassing

Alternatively you can order a whole new ruder from Jefa, or send the stock (the metal bits) to them to re-use those and build a new blade around them. This cost around ₤2k or so last I checked (on a 40 ft boat).

[tiger79]

we have expanded it. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with what material we should repair it with?

I don't think that's a practical repair proposition.  It would be quicker and better to get a new rudder.

[fjoe]

"Reparing better than new". Unfortunately in best German. You can find the contact under "Impressum".

https://www.mergerandfriends.de/technik/rumpf-u-deck/79-rudersanierung-besser-als-neuwertig

A friend of mine lost the rudder of his Bav36 this year when he missed a buoy... The new rudder an its assembly will cost more than 6000 EUR in the Netherlands.

Good luck
Frank

[Dr_RedShoe]

The second side hit the Atlantic without us noticing.

[JEN-et-ROSS]

A few years ago during winter storage ashore heavy rain dislodged a rock from the slope above. It hit our rudder causing a great deal of damage to the rudder and steering, the rock weighed several tons....

So, the rudder required to be repaired and from your photo the construction looks exactly the same..
The rudder is an aluminium alloy stock that runs through the rudder and is fitted with 'ribs', as in your photo...
The two side mouldings were removed to be repaired and the 'infill' that you see in your photo discarded...
Once the GRP side moulding were repaired one side was laid on a flat bench, the now clean stock was laid onto/into it and filled with an epoxy foam..
The other side was then laid on to it and the excess foam cleaned off..
Once cured the joint was glassed over to reinforce it, and once the rudder was cleaned up it was reinstalled...
The work was all done locally..

The only difference in your case, as I understand it, is that your Port side now 'sleeps with the fishes' so to speak, so a new one would require to be fabricated...
This was not at all expensive and entirely doable....

[Goboatingnow]

The second side hit the Atlantic without us noticing.

Clearly he didn’t miss it

[Markus]

The rudder is an aluminium alloy stock that runs through the rudder and is fitted with 'ribs', as in your photo...
The two side mouldings were removed to be repaired and the 'infill' that you see in you photo discarded...
Once the GRP side moulding were repaired one side was laid on a flat bench, the now clean stock was laid onto/into it and filled with an epoxy foam..
The other side was then laid on to it and the excess foam cleaned off..
Once cured the joint was glassed over to reinforce it, and once the rudder was cleaned up it was reinstalled...
The work was all done locally..

I would guess from the photo it's a stainless shaft. If I were to repair as opposed to getting a new one, I would definitely glass the ribs and the shaft internally to one of the rudder faces. This way even if the rudder is damaged you are likely to retain at least enough of it for steerage. And glassing over the whole assembly is a good idea as suggested. Mechanically better than new then.

[JEN-et-ROSS]

I would guess from the photo it's a stainless shaft. If I were to repair as opposed to getting a new one, I would definitely glass the ribs and the shaft internally to one of the rudder faces. This way even if the rudder is damaged you are likely to retain at least enough of it for steerage. And glassing over the whole assembly is a good idea as suggested. Mechanically better than new then.

You may be right, but visually judging by the large diameter of the shaft in the photo, it's the same design as ours and that's a solid 10cm diameter aluminium alloy shaft....
However, I'd be interested to know what the material is..

As for retaining a portion of rudder if it's damaged, we were told during the repair that that's why the rudder stock and ribs don't go all the way to the bottom i.e. the lower third can break away without compromising the structure as a whole...Quite smart I thought..

[Joe]

If you are interested to watch a proper rudder repair have at look at https://youtu.be/mRbDP3pmLB8 and the following videos of Sail Life. Or perhaps better buy a new one.