No such thing as gudgeon bushing?

After my last trip, noticed slop in the right rudder. Disassembled, and the pin was loose in the lower gudgeon.

There's very clearly an inner sleeve in 3/4 of my gudgeons that's missing from that one (I guess at some point it cracked, or I punched it out by accident). But when I try to look it up, everyone is talking about bushings in the rudder casting, and apparently there's not supposed to be one in the gudgeon.

https://imgur.com/4GoF0xo https://imgur.com/pxVGWkw

So these are what, something someone jury-rigged? The 40-year-old version of the parts that's not how it works anymore?

Is there no easy way to ID and replace these sleeves?
Excessive cost aside, if I buy a new complete lower gudgeon, will the ID match what I have now with the bushings? Will the screw holes be in the same places? Can I just caulk the old ones if they're not?

TIA.

Following up, I took some measurements with calipers.

The short story is the dimensions of the bushing are very close to being 3/8" ID, 1/2" OD. Length (height) is much less round at .68". Closest fraction is 11/16".
Feel like it should work to buy standard spacer from the hardware store, cut it to length, and potentially open it up to 25/64" if it's a hair too tight for metal pins.

Seems like they have these on the shelf at my Lowe's, but not HD.

New gudgeons were designed to not require a bushing. There is no "Hobie" bushing for that issue.

New one is about $40

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

So I'm looking at old parts, then? $50 shipped vs $1.50 local is a tough sell. Is there any performance/utility improvement? Less likely to fail under load?
I'm not sure if I need a certain number of posts before I don't need to wait for screening and can post images inline, or what, but I've got it tentatively sorted with a 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD x 3/4" len split bushing.

Solid sleeve 3/8" ID is too small, but split works. 1/2" OD is a very loose slip fit, but prying it open a hair with external snap-ring pliers snugs it up. Biggest issue will be if it rusts.

Almost more difficult finding phillips mounting screws to replace the old flatheads. Hardware stores all act like #12 doesn't exist, and there's nothing between #10 and 1/4".

As I recall on those old gudgeons, that center part was aluminum (sort of tack welded into the stainless housing) and could fall out someimes. And, yes, those #12 screws are hard to come by in stainless. There's bound to be tons of that old hardware in decent shape lying around out there. (I'll check to see if I have any on Monday.) You might also try here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeachcatMarketplace/
.

_________________
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

The old gudgeons are notorious for cracking etc. For #12 screws go to albany county fasteners.
https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com/
They have a complete selection in stainless. They also have a trim head SS hex head #12 so you can use a socket or wrench instead of a flat head or phillips. They are 18-8 but that is fine. I replaced my gudgeons and used the trim head screws with loc tite blue on the threads.
They also have the small screws to fit harken blocks in standard and truss head.
Plus all the SS rivets.

Sorry, but I've already given away all the old gudgeon hardware I had.

Have you tried removing the No. 12 screws yet? If not, proceed with caution. They're screwed into an aluminum plate in the transom and notorious for being frozen there (galvanic corrosion) when they haven't been unscrewed for decades. If you shear the head off, you'll really have a mess. If you do get 'em out, coat with something like Lanocote (preferably) or at least antiseize compound before replacing.

Good luck!

_________________
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

McMaster Carr sells online and has every screw size/type you could possibly need, including #12, but you may need to buy more than you need.

The new style gudgeons are stronger, but you’re probably ok with the old ones on a H14. On a 16 or 18 I would definitely change them out.

Use as big of a flat head screwdriver that you can fit into those gudgeon screws so you don’t strip out the heads, and yes, definitely go slow/proceed with caution. You don’t want to snap one off. If your boat was used in fresh water, you’re probably ok as far as corrosion is concerned.

sm

Hey, thanks everyone for all the help! Sorry for not being more on top of this; I'm used to forums pinging my e-mail when someone responds to your thread.

Ultimately Ace (my usual hardware go-to) pretends #12 doesn't exist, but HD had very, very limited stock in stainless (nothing in plated). I didn't even consider that there are different grades of stainless.
The old screws actually came right out with a demo driver. This boat has sailed in salt water all its life, so I guess nobody has ever let any water sit inside, at least.

I still can't post images, but if you can forgive kind of sending it on the caulk, you can see the fitment of the replacement sleeve:

https://imgur.com/EVcBuV0

I actually do need a full set of gudgeons for a WIP 16, so that's good info. Been having no luck trying to track down a boom anywhere nearby all summer, though.


While I'm here, anyone have an ultimate strategy for solo-stepping the mast on a 14 Turbo? I've been wrapping the halyard around my roof-rack, but it would be convenient not to have to move the truck back in front of the boat.

Simplest way to solo step the mast is to tie the main halyard to one of the bow tangs. Raise the mast and then cleat off the halyard. Then jump down and pin the forestay to the adjuster on the bridles. You will need to add an extension line few feet long to the halyard so that it reaches.

sm

I guess I always assumed supporting the mast with a forward line that far off-center wouldn't work. The halyard definitely isn't fitting through the tang. Through the clevis?

The mast will stand up just fine, even if pulled off center. Done it that way on the 14 plenty of times. Just make sure you take out all the slack and pull the halyard snug when you cleat it off.

Tie off the halyard to the shackle that connects the bridle wire to the bow tang.

If you have a Turbo with trapeze wires, you can do somehing similar by passing one of the jib sheets through the bow tang shackle and then tieing off to one of the trap wires. After you raise the mast, pull in and cleat the jib sheet and that will hold the mast up.

sm