Sheared Gudgeon Screw

Sorry if I'm asking some stupid questions here, I'm kind of new to all of this. I was trying to seal my lower gudgeon on the port hull and ended up having some problems getting a few of the screws out. Two of the screws just spun in place. I applied a bit of force behind the two of them and they just slid out easily enough without any need to unscrew it. The third screw as you can see from the photo ended up shearing off. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions how best to deal with the sheared off screw? As well, I've heard all the horror stories about the backing plate in the transom, does this mean my plate is most likely no longer there? I was able to seal and reattach the upper gudgeon without any problem however which I thought most likely means the plate is fine? My last question is about dealing with the holes from the screws. I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo but they're all slightly elongated. I apologize for the novice questions again but any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Andrew



Photo didn't work so I included a link....
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7y4abxBZ3vqVUNLOGVuaThCNE0/edit

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Andrew
'88 Hobie 16

Image fix:


That's ugly. Probably the easiest (although certainly not the least expensive) way to fix that would be to install a one-piece, die cast gudgeon on that side of the boat. The holes in the new gudgeon don't all line up with the old holes - and even if that particular one does (where the broken machine screw is), you can drill a new hole through the gudgeon / backing plate and tap it to accept a new machine screw to replace the one in that location.

Otherwise, you're looking at enlarging the hole around that stub so you can get some Vise-Grips on it - and even that might not work.

The elongated holes can be filled with thickened epoxy (very thick), redrilled and chased with a tap. Or you could go up one machine screw size.

The pictures aren't working for me.

Another option would be to add a 5" diameter access port in the deck near the transom. This would allow you to inspect the gudgeon mounting area, verify if the plate is OK and even possibly get a pair of pliers on the broken screw from the inside (I say possibly because it is still going to be very tight working back there.

This would allow you to drill through the mounting plate and thru-bolt new screws with nyloc nuts and washers. It would probably also be best to step up to 1/4-20 screws.

sm

Another thing I was wondering about is the delaminated wood that you can see around the holes in the photo. Should I be concerned that the whole transom is delaminated o,r is it most likely just in the area where the gudgeon stripped some of the glass away?

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Andrew
'88 Hobie 16

Thanks for the suggestions by the way!

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Andrew
'88 Hobie 16

JePense,

I had a gudgeon fail many years ago while racing in the ocean. It was no fun coming back to the beach with one rudder stuck near horizontal.

I was really intimidated by the repair and actually didn't sail for several years due to not knowing how to fix it and not wanting to pay someone else to do it. I had several screws sheer off well inside the transom near the aluminum plate.

I went the extreme route and re-built my transoms. I actually ground everything down to the aluminum plate, removed the old plate and installed a new one, re-glassed everything, drilled and tapped holes for new gudgeons, and installed the new one piece gudgeons. I've been happy with my repair.

Here are a few pics of the process from my repair. I just didn't want to cut ports into the boat, even though I understand some of the advantages.

http://s1319.photobucket.com/user/jsaut ... sort=2&o=0

I had zero experience with fiberglass prior to this repair, but I did enlist the advice of a friend with experience. It turned out that this repair wasn't nearly as difficult as I was making it out to be. Should you decide to do something along these lines I'd be happy to give you more detail about the process. But again, I'm in no way an expert on fiberglass repairs. I'm happy to say that my repair is holding up strong after a year of sailing 6-7 days a month for quite a while now.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Thanks very much James, it looks great! I've been kind of leery about the holes in the hulls as well, although I guess quite a few take that route and don't have any problems? If I go with rebuilding the transom as you did I would need to glass right around the sides of the hull to ensure the transom is structurally sound?


Andrew

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Andrew
'88 Hobie 16