I have been a lurker on these boards for a while but have never posted yet - but learnt much ! But now I have a question and need some help.
I have just been inspecting my whole outfit (Mac 26x - 1998 model) for wear ready for the new season and have noticed significant wear on the rudders where the line goes through the pre-drilled hole to lift-up/hold down the rudders. The original circular hole is being elongated where the line pulls on it. There appears to be no re-inforcing.
My first thoughts were to try and fill this in with GRP filler but then I realised the Rudders themselves are "hollow" and any attempt to do this is liable to block the flow in and out.
The rest of the rudders are in good nick and at the moment it is at the stage of needing a preventative repair - I want to stop this problem getting worse. At the moment they have worn through less than half an inch.
So has anyone encountered this ? How did you solve it ?
I noticed this on my rudders too, when installing bungie hold-downs and the "easy up rudder" mod. Mine seems to be worse on the hold-down holes. Anyway, I put a washer on each line to spread the load between the knot and the rudder hole (and to ensure the line doesn't pull through!).
I added stainless washers for the knots on the hold-down lines.
For the lifting lines ... it's a little costly but I chose some large 'D' shackles, maybe 1.5" wide across the pin. Each of these shackles can just straddle the thickness of its rudder. I added nylon bushings to enlarge the pin size so it matches the size of the hole in the rudders. Next, add a mini-block, shackled to each large shackle. Finally, tie the lifting line to a padeye on the boat, lead it through the mini-block, and on up to the rudder cleat - adding 2:1 purchase for lifting the rudder.
Sorry, I know that's a tough description to follow, but no pix right now.
Frank C wrote:For the lifting lines ... it's a little costly but I chose some large 'D' shackles, maybe 1.5" wide across the pin. Each of these shackles can just straddle the thickness of its rudder. I added nylon bushings to enlarge the pin size so it matches the size of the hole in the rudders. Next, add a mini-block, shackled to each large shackle. Finally, tie the lifting line to a padeye on the boat, lead it through the mini-block, and on up to the rudder cleat - adding 2:1 purchase for lifting the rudder.
Sorry, I know that's a tough description to follow, but no pix right now.
This is what I did too... here's a mod that turned me on to the idea (works great, MUCH easier to get the rudders up now!)...
Neat idea about the PVC. If you do that, you might consider using CPVC (chlorinated PVC) instead. it's usually grey color and is a lot tougher than PVC.
