Rudders

I bought a tap on eBay for ten bucks plus shipping. You've gone this far, why not go all the way?

After going through all the trouble i have so far and now that I realize that the assembly can be taken apart by removing the cam first followed by the spring, I could have left the old screws in and just added some washers to increase the tension. Problem solved. It was a learning experience.

I just completed the project on both rudder castings. Drilled out rivet, drilled out old screws and replaced with the new kits.

The new springs (provided for with plunger) were actually longer than the original springs in my 87 hobie. Knowing this, I realized the replacement screw didn't have to go that far into the casting (the original screws were way up in the casting). Just something to watch for.

After drilling out the nylon screw there was pieces of it still in the casting. On one rudder casting I burnt out the old screw however on the 2nd I was able to chip/push out with screw driver from the opposite side.

I also purchased a 8x3/4" bolt from Home Depot to run through the casting removing any remaining pieces from the old screw. Would have been much nicer to have a tap however but hard to find locally.

Greased all pieces and put back together. Good to have the parts all working correctly cause you know it will be important soon enough.

You will run across many more instances in sailing where hindsight is 20-20. I have enough spare parts that I've bought since the purchase of my boat to build another boat.

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Happy Sailing,

David

Thanks DavidBell47, that makes me feel (a little!) better....

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'