Rudder, Rudder Post and Rudder Tube Problems and Repair Replacing my Hurely 22 rudder tube - an essay Hurley 20 Rudder Repairs Darren has sent us a sequence of pictures showing the repair of his rudder and rudder post He says: "You
can see how little of the original rudder post remained, the cut from
the narrow grinder blade, the rudder split in two, the rust inside from
some water ingression (although not as bad as some others have seen).
You can also see the interesting trick of Second Wind standing on her
tip toes to make enough room to get the rudder back in (I tried to dig
a hole, but just short of the required depth there was a small boulder).
I also added a zinc (turned down on the lathe) to do double duty to
protect from further corrosion and to act as a spacer to remove play
in the rudder. After the photo shown I had to bring the zinc back to
the lathe one more time to shape it so it fit better against the hull.
On the topside of the rudder post I added a delrin disc which is thick
enough to pull the zinc right up against the hull which removes all
the vertical play in the rudder."
New Hurley 24 Rudder These pictures show a new Hurley 24/70 rudder being fitted by Maurice Huffy of Blaxton Boats Hurley 22 Rudder Problems Hurley 22 leaking rudder tube. Leaking rudder tubes and glands are an issue on Hurley 22 yachts. The Hurley-built 22 had a rudder tube of galvanised steel that would rust and fail with foul consequences. This is a common problem and the weakest link in otherwise sound boats. You need to cut the tube out with an angle grinder from inside of the vessel, crawling under the cockpit and squeezing past the cockpit drains. This is not a pleasant job but will be helped by creating an inspection hatch with cover at the aft end of the cockpit sole. The tube should be replaced by an item of stainless steel, cut to length and threaded at each end to allow for a skin fitting nuts to secure. These skin fittings should be reamed out to create a rudderpost bush at top and bottom. However, your friend might have a rudderpost with stuffing box gland? These are easy to stop leaking just by re-packing with cotton wadding and grease. Or you could use the easier method that later Hurley 22s had. That is a PVC hose between two bronze skin fittings that are reamed out to 1" to act as bushes. The hoses are held in place by hose clips.
Hurley 22 Replacement Rudder Tube Work carried out for Ben Hillwood-Harris by Ryan at The Metal Clinic Ltd. Rudder Tube:316 grade stainless steel Dimensions:Tube Length 840mm
External
Diameter 42.2mm with 4.5mm wall thickness
Length
of thread along tube (both ends) 100mm Description My rudder tube was the original (I think) and was completely rusted through; Nick Vass who surveyed the boat was surprised it hadn't sunk. It appeared that somebody in the past had made some repairs, as there was some epoxy/glass fibre seal internally at the hull end of the tube. I managed (through an inspection hatch) to break the tube and release the top half on the old tube through the rudder tube hole in the deck. The bottom half wasn't half as easy. I had to carefully grind the old section of tube and skin fitting nut (bronze) but eventually it came free, with out damage to the hull! I took the whole rudder and stock to the fabricator to ensure that the fit was good. Ryan turned the job around fairly quickly, a week or so once he had sourced the tube. Because my rudderstock had various 'collars' (i.e. its diameter wasn't uniform ranging from 25mm - 28mm approx) Ryan had to split the bush into two parts, the bottom (hull end) was also split into along its length to allow fitting as the rudder and stock was refitted. Click here to see a drawing. Replacement Rudder Tube - Bilge Keel Hurley 22 Gary describes how he replaced his rudder tube. When
I bought my Hurley 22 bilge keel,the owner told me she had recently
had a rudder repair after a brief grounding incident and that there
had been some minor fibreglass work to the bottom edge. Ihad a quick
look and sure enough there was some evidence of recent repair, with
that Ioverlooked the rudder stock and tube thinking, wrongly now, that
it would have been all in good order. I suppose that's the danger of
buying a boat full of enthusiasm and trust, but with little knowledge.
Hurley 24 Rudder Post Replacement
|