Broken Gudgeon Screws

Thanks for the tip, I'll hopefully be able to check it out by the end of the week. I'd like to get these holes drilled/tapped before I paint, and I'd like to paint before the weekend.

I was checking out my new parts and comparing them to my rudder casting yesterday and realized one of my rudders is broken. It looks like a typical break, up near the holes at the top. I'm pretty bummed to say the least. It looks like about 120.00 for a new rudder. This additional expense will officially put me at the "twice as much as I paid for the boat" range. Its a barrier I hoped to not break. Anyone have suggestion about replacing this rudder? Should I even consider purchasing a used one (set)? The break is clean, I almost feel like I could just super-glue it.

Doc, where are you located? I have plenty of rudders . I am having similiar problems with my gudgeon screws as well,except they are all stripped out. I did not want to cut out a port and thru bolt so I decided to just remove the aluminun plate and put in a new one. Today I glued in the new plate with thickened epoxy and will glassit all up and drill and tap new screws.

Ouch, that is some serious work you got going there. I've actually went with plan B, the one piece hardware, seems to have worked out quite well.

Im in St. Louis, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about my rudder yet.

Old post I know, but... I broke two gudgeon screws while sailing two weekends ago. It was the lower gudgeon and the two holes on the right side (starboard hull) still have the screws in them. I haven't been able to get them out with an easy out. I was thinking of using the one piece gudgeons as well, plus I want to tighten up some rudder slop. Do the holes not line up at all? If so, that would be great.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

abbman, did you ever get a response and how did it work out?

I have the replacement gudgeons and I am having trouble removing some of the old screws, to facilitate removal of the old gudgeons. So, if the lineups work, I could cut the heads off the stuck screws, remove old gugeons, file down stuck screws and install new gudgeons with no line up problems with the old filed downed stuck screws?

Chime in anyone that has gone through this, or refer me to fresh thread and thanks very much to all.

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

The holes on the one-piece gudgeons line up very closely, just not perfectly. Best to remove old screws if at all possible....soak w/PB Blaster? The one piece gudgeons do have two extra holes, though (have to tap transom for those).

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

Thanks Jerome. I was expecting that answer, but it's always nice to have advanced definitive information.

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

My buddy turned me on to an impact driver, a tool I was hitherto unfamiliar with. It translates the force of a hammer blow to the end of the tool, to a turning motion of the bit. I used it to remove the otherwise frozen gudgeon screws.

$20 at Autozone - beautiful.

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

impact driver!! one tool you never knew existed, but now that you found it you will use it more than you will ever imagine.

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'73 hobie 16 restored 2011
'00 Seaswirl fishin boat

LOL - Wow, I hope not!

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

if your in the boating world especially around salt water it comes in handy. As soon as i realize I'm about ready to strip the head out of this damn screw I reach for the PB blaster and the impact driver. Spray the screw and give it a couple light taps with the driver just to work the lube into the threads. Come back in a 1/2 hour smack it again and she usually comes loose.

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'73 hobie 16 restored 2011
'00 Seaswirl fishin boat

reelknotty, sounds like a plan for future "frozen" bolts/screws. Thanks for the advice.

So now I have the old gudgeons off and I am installing the new ones. They have two extra holes. How should I go about using them? Do I drill a hole and use sheet metal or wood screws? Do I use bolts like the ones I took out. From reading this thread, it is still unclear to me what the bolts are attaching to. Do they just tap into the two layers of sheet metal?

One of the removed screws is oversized and I cannot find a replacement with a small enough head to clear the movement of the rudder castings. It was pretty frozen in and the straight slot top was easy to strip. I would prefer replacing it with a phiillps or hex head screw. I was thinking of filling in the hole and installing a smaller screw. If that makes sense, do I just fill with epoxy resin, similar to a fairing compound consistency?

How does one properly drill to match the screw size. I happen to be using M6 x 25's, metric screws, as they matched 11 of the 12 I removed.

Lastly, two the the screws do not tighten, so if filing and redrilling works I was thinking of doing it to those holes also. I want to avoid cutting open the hull to attach lock nuts.

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

The screws are actually 12/24. If you mess up you can go up a size to 1/4x20. You need to drill and tap. I am actually doing some right now and I will take some pics and show you how I do it.

Thanks Genmar Star. I look forward to some elaboration, but I have since Googled away, bought 12-14 tap/drill bit and 1/4-20 tap/drill bit sets.

I will use the 12-14's on the two lower new holes in each replacement gudgeon.

I will use the 1/4-20 taps to install larger screws in the loose holes.

Will you also speak to filling in oversized holes and the right way to do so, so that they can resued with the more standard sized screws?

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ScotsSailor
1986 Hobie 16

The first problem is nothing lines up.

You have to sand the underside of the deck lip to gain some room.

You can now see that you have three holes on the left hand side you can reuse. I will then fill up the rest of the holes and re drill and tap. I use epoxy thickened with cabosil. If you have a West marine around I would get 404 filler. I will post some more pics as I finish this up.