Rudder is soaked

[Mark Sutherland]

I believe Gary Brockman recently bought a new elliptical rudder from Foss (in So. Cal) for about $1,900. 

[Gary Brockman]

Yes, I bought a new elliptical rudder from Foss Co. in Newport Beach last December as did Margie Woods for her race to Hawaii in the Single Handed Transpac. Both Margie and I can highly recommend the Foss Rudder which I believe was designed by Carl Schumacher as a replacement for the Catalina 34 and 36. The rudder cost $1,900 and I picked it up from the factory so there was no shipping charge.

[Noah]

Did you have Foss machine/drill new post to fit your boat or use a outside machine shop?

[Gary Brockman]

I used the local boatyard, Windward in Marina del Rey. I had the boat hauled out the morning I picked up the new rudder and the yard dropped the old rudder and cut and drilled the new rudder to match the old one. I think any good yard should be able to do the job.

[Mas Tequila]

Well the death of my rudder was a bit premature. After some exploratory surgery I found that there was at some point some damage to the port side of the rudder and that it was repaired with what looks like nothing more than thickened epoxy and no glass. It seems that the repair was to an area about 4 inches in diameter and when it was faired basically to the base of the rudder. The repair cracked which allowed water to get behind it and run out of the crack and behind the faired area so water was running out at the base of the rudder. After a bit of grinding and drilling a number of holes I found much to my relief the core was dry and there was no signs of rust. Checked the rudder post and that is straight. Since it's to cold to do any glass work now I'm going to leave it open until the spring and re-glass it then.

[Noah]

What are you going to do with your new windfall (saved $2,600+!!)? How about a new sail!?

[Mas Tequila]

Noah, I'm thinking I'd really like a raymarine i70 wind speed depth system

[Noah]

I like your positive attitude, "Positive Attitude".