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A new thought!!  Speaking of the skeg (!), I"ve included another picture taken just after the boat was hauled out.  Looks as if the skeg is slanted in a curve downward almost touching the rudder.  If the rudder were bent (and decreased the clearance at the skeg) wouldn't we see a corresponding increase in the space down the rudder post?  But there isn't any. Although my wife would not agree with me maybe this is the way it has been all along and all we need to do is only sand the skeg (as Ron suggested earlier) and not touch the rudder.

I"m ready to make this happen.  How much space (how much to take off top of rudder and bottom of skag) do I need?  Thanks for all your suggestions. Kerk

What did you use for your epoxy? and barrier coat?  Did it take a long time to cure before the vc-17?  Since we live 600 miles from our boat I'm trying to plan/time a rudder repair so we can get in the water as quickly as possible.

Yes Ron, we have unfortunately figured that. So once sanded, what epoxy (without mesh, I assume) would you use for this small job and what primer so that we could use our vc-17 extra ( know it's not hard but it's what's on the boat now).

Greetings.  We noticed at the end of last season that the trailing edge of the rudder has only an eighth of an inch clearance.  About 8 years ago we nicked the rudder when our keel got hung up on a rock.  (My wife says she would have noticed it well before now if this kissing the bottom had caused it)  It's solid with no loose play and has posed no apparent problem.  So we don't know the cause.  BUT our idea of fixing it is to belt sand the top of the rudder a bit so we feel comfortable with the clearance.  Q: How would we finish it off? epoxy, primer, then bottom paint?  What epoxy and primer? 

oops. I said keel repair when I meant rudder.  Thanks for all your input.  Sounds as if 4 qts, not thinned with a mohair roller.  I do have a question about the rudder repair but I'll start a separate thread.

I'll be repainting my 1990 34' wing keel Catalina.  We sail the great lakes so we've allowed the bottom paint to get pretty sparse.  Q:  How many quarts will I need of red VC-17m extra, how many coats, and how much do I thin it (a fellow sailor says about 1/2 cup of acetone to a quart)?  Also, I may be doing a little epoxy repair on the keel and will need to prime it before painting.  Q: What primer would adhere to both the epoxy and the bottom paint?  Thanks, Kerk

Again, thanks all for your continued interest in this mystery.  To clarify.  The problem began the second season after the new shaft and the pss was put in.  Maybe the alignment took a season to get out of wack?  Indian Falls thinks the alignment would not create the problem but maybe you, Ron, think it might.  Believe it or not we only backed one time this season because we only sailed for one week of anchoring due to an emergency abort mission to return home to an ailing mother-in-law so can't speak to the issue of prop wash while in reverse.

Three pix are included: 1. showing the shaft through the log.  2. The strut (what is the water stain?) 3.  The rudder. Clearance seems rather close at the top aft section of the rudder.  Note: bottom paint will be applied in the spring!

Hi all.  I just got back from the boat which is 600 miles away.  Found something interesting.  The main tech person at the yard noticed that the shaft is coming through the shaft log very close to the starboard side, almost touching, way off center. Could this be the problem??? The strut is straight.  (All else looked good, prop is ours, rudder was new elliptical a few years ago) I looked at the cutlass bearing briefly and it looked good although it was only on the journey home that I wish I had looked more carefully to see if I could notice slight uneven wear. Would this shaft position provide enough of an angle so that the prop pushes the stern to starboard and the bow to port? I"m not sure why this would be so out of alignment.....  We didn't notice much vibration at all. Nothing out of the ordinary.  I've never done the alignment although it was done by another yard when the new shaft was put in. Will these techs be able to determine in the alignment process that the shaft is centered in the log even when the boat's in the water and cover by ( in the interior) by a PSS Packless sealing system.  I wanted to send a photo but nothing worked.(any hints on this process?)  Thanks, Kerk

Thanks for your responses. We have the usual prop walk in reverse.  But this problem is in forward.  The prop is three blade; the shaft and cutless bearing were replaced a couple of years ago.  I'll be at the boat in a couple of weeks and can check the prop, etc more carefully but I know that the boat was motoring fine at the end of last season and this started right at the beginning of this season.  What could have happened?  And this is MORE than a little.  The autohelm will not hold because of this, so I"ve used a rope to keep the wheel straight!!

This year, for the first time, our boat pulls to port pretty drastically when the motor is on. When moving slowly we don't feel it but as we pick up speed we need to need to struggle to keep it going straight.  Does not happen while under sail.  There was no trauma to the rudder, and we have a new stainless shaft. Propeller good.  Visual inspection down below indicated no problem apparently with steering mechanism, gears, all tight, running freely. Yard put boat to bed very well.  Last year no problem at all. But this year..... What happened and is happening?

Hi.  I've tried searching lots of items and the site always comes up with:

2: pspell_new() [<a href='function.pspell-new'>function.pspell-new</a>]: PSPELL couldn't open the dictionary. reason: No word lists can be found for the language "en".
File: /home/c34org5/public_html/bbs/Sources/Search.php
Line: 700

I have a MacBook Pro.

What's happening?  Thanks, Kerk

 Ron, A CAP full of bleach per 25 gals or a CUP full?

Anyone use vodka, instead of a chemical treatment, for the water supply.  If so, how much?  I"ve heard of it.... Thanks, Kerk

Thanks, Ron.  Ours is a Mark 1.5. 1100, 1990.