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Island Dreams No. 922 - Home Made Emergency Rudder

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Carl in LA
Captain

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USA
284 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/26/2019 : 07:33:03

I wanted to have an emergency spare rudder for the 250.

The space I want to stowe the emergency rudder is in the aft berth along the port side - there is about 66 inches front to back in that space. To ease storage I chose to make the emergency rudder five feet long.

I went to the lumber yard and purchased a six foot long 2x12 Douglas Fir board... I picked the board which had a nice cross grain pattern.

then cut it down into something resembling a rudder...

Then attempted to saw some taper into the leading and trailing edges... (don't look too closely at that tapering attempt)

Went down to the boat for a test fit...

And located the fittings such that it mimics the stock rudder... About the fittings... I purchased additional pintels for the rudder... they are new. The logic being that should the stock rudder break - hopefully it would only break the rudder itself - and not the pintle receiver which is attached to the hull.

Then - rather than screwing around with unbolting the stock rudders pintles and mount them on the emergency rudder - just having additional pintles on the emergency rudder already in place made better sense to me. Of course all bets are off if the damage to the stock rudder rips the pintle receiver out of the hull.

Sanding smooths out all those very rough edges. Used 36-grit on the belt sander to start which really hacked away at the gross excess from sloppy table saw cuts, then 80-grit to knock down the surfaces and finally 120-grit for the paintable surface.

Painting... I had some fence stain on hand that I used for painting... If I did not have something on hand I would have gone with Brightsides or some other heavy enamel. Others might have gone all the way and laid a fiberglass layer around the rudder... but as this is not expected to be in the water too long and stain will have to get the job done.

Next up - actually attempting to change the rudder while at sea... better add a hole for a rope so it doesnt get away from the boat.

Best,

Carl

Catalina 250 - Pretty Good Boat

Edited by - Carl in LA on 06/27/2019 13:08:25

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2019 : 08:50:40

It only has to work. Don't have to be pretty. Now let's hope you don't ever need it.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

dmarion
1st Mate

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Canada
67 Posts

Response Posted - 06/29/2019 : 04:19:17

Cool... I like it. Thanks for sharing. Just added it to my project list.

Daniel Marion
Zendo
Cat 250 WB 2001 Hull #592
Valleyfield, QC,
Canada

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.