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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Broken Rudder

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slaedlein
1st Mate

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USA
51 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/05/2007 : 20:49:43

What started to be a beautiful day on Pensacola Bay ended in near disaster. Halfway through a short afternoon with the kids trailing a line for fish, the Admiral recommended a new course. Starboard turn resulted in the usual resistance followed by a very light feeling.

The lower pintle had broken. Fortunately the gas tank was full so we motored for the next 20 minutes back to the slip. Sure is easier to motor with a working rudder than by muscling the outboard around.

Any suggestions on how to repair the rudder, or am I better off getting a new beaching rudder? That brings up the next question - which generation rudder should I get?

Finaly at home

The focus of my consternation

I'm no metallurgist, but this can't be good.
HuBeStu is a 1997 WB with single cable Edson Wheel

Scott
HuBeStu
1997 WB
Hull# 250

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2007 : 22:08:22

Instead of replacing the entire rudder, if the blade is okay, you might want to call Catalina Yachts and just get a replacement pintle assembly.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2007 : 07:50:15

Hi Scott... Glad it didn't happen at a bad time and cause an injury or damage.

Catalina has discontinued the beaching rudder and will likely try to sell you a 3rd generation rudder. Be aware that the water ballast version is shorter than the wing keel version and will have less control ability than the rudder you have been using. If your sailing venues are docile, the short version will work but if you sail aggressive venues then control will be lacking. The advantage of the short version is that it can be shipped to the boat prior to launching whereas the longer version will have to be mounted/dismounted with the boat in the water and because of the balance it has to be canted to mount/dismount so is more difficult to cope with.

The advantage of the 3rd generation is it is balanced and has better slow speed lift. The rudder you have however is a high aspect rudder and has better overall lift and at less drag.

My choice would be a new rudder head or repair and stay with the rudder you have as the beaching rudder is in my opinion much better suited to the water ballast model than a fixed rudder. A local jobber could possibly weld a new piece to the head to affix a new pintle though alignment is critical.

Now to the cause of the failure. I've taken the liberty to download your photo and draw a line through the pintles and show the problem.

The kickup function appears to have been abandoned by through bolting the wheel steering receiver to the rudder head and in doing fixing the rudder position... but doing so way too far aft. The original rivet detent hold down had the rudder position about one inch aft of where the string is and even so the helm was pretty hard but with the rudder position lagging aft considerably more than that as in the pic... there were great stresses added to the pintles and the helm must have been a real bear.

A mod that many of us have done is to disassemble the rudder head and mill some relief to position the forward edge of the rudder about an inch forward of the string thereby adding balance to the rudder and relieving the helm efforts.

Also, the rudder was never equipped with a pull down line and the rivet/detent system was a poor design so a much more effective hold down/pull down system was designed by this writer and has been used by many.

As you have not been using the beaching function... you might be happy going with the 3rd generation blade rudder but choose the right one according to your venue and sailing style. If you want to regain the beaching function and stay with the very nice 2nd generation rudder, then in my opinion that would be worthy of the effort as it makes for the best rudder currently available as long as the mods are done to balance the rudder and change the hold down system.

Last, you commented that you continue to use the single cable steering system. That system is prone to failure at several points. There is a set screw that holds the jacket down low in the pedestal that has failed, the jacket has failed and allowed the inner cable to simply pooch through the non wrapped restraining jacket wires and the terminating rod has both bent beyond use or broken.

The fix for this is to replace the single cable system with either the two cable system from Edson or the open wire conversion design again by me, which can be had either in a kit or self built as the plans are freely shared. The open wire conversion in my opinion is far better than the Edson two cable system. It along with a properly set up 2nd generation rudder as you have provide a fantastic helm.

Last... if Catalina doesn't have the head section to replace yours, someone else might have one they have replaced with a 3rd generation rudder. You don't need one with the receiver for the wheel as you have that...but when installing it...don't through bolt it but rather use recessed screws from the inside so as to maintain the beaching function.

See the rudder head mods and open steering mods on my web site.

Edited by - Arlyn Stewart on 05/06/2007 08:03:05

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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.