We lost our rudder - help needed

Stu Jackson · May 12, 2014, 06:37:20 PM

Quote from: mark_53 on May 12, 2014, 12:02:13 PM
Sounds like a good thing to inspect carefully.

1. How would one inspect for this problem? Would it have been visible during a haul out or can a diver inspect for this?

2. Also, if you lose a rudder while in weather, what is the best course of action?

1. You almost can't. If your boat is out of the water, go look!!! There is almost NO space between the top of the rudder and the bottom of the skeg. Really.

2. SOL. You can't heave to without a rudder. The crew did a REMARKABLE job of getting the boat to a dock. Extremely well handled. Congratulations to those on board at the time. Good thinking, smart seamanship.

RobertSchuldenfrei · May 13, 2014, 02:05:50 PM

All of the credit belongs to CPT Franco Cervetto for keeping Esprit du Vent from coming to grief. By careful application of power in forward and reverse he maneuvered the boat to a dock on the Intracoastal. Franco, along with his wife Christeen, are the other members in our LLC that owns our boat.

Noah · May 13, 2014, 06:15:50 PM

Nice job! It took me four tries to back into my slip this morning without hitting my neighbor, and that was with a rudder! Curious, did they contemplate just dropping anchor?

RobertSchuldenfrei · May 14, 2014, 05:54:12 AM

Quote from: Noah on May 13, 2014, 06:15:50 PM
Nice job! It took me four tries to back into my slip this morning without hitting my neighbor, and that was with a rudder! Curious, did they contemplate just dropping anchor?

At the moment Christeen is having problems signing on to the forum. She has asked me to respond to dropping anchor. That was our plan "B". But it happened while we were underneath the opened drawbridge, so we had to clear out from there first. Then we were in the way of the bridge traffic, so we did the reverse and drift and saw we were heading towards the sea wall. But dropping anchor was our next move if we did not get a favorable drift.

ozzie · May 14, 2014, 08:39:19 AM

Catalina Direct has fiberglass and HDPE rudders for sale.

http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/2557/rudder-c-34-c-36brhdpe-unifoil-wing-keels.cfm

Dave.

tonywright · May 19, 2014, 06:29:26 AM

Not sure if you have a wing keel, but those in our club who have replaced their rudders have gone with the shallower elliptical rudder: less prone to damage if/when you run aground.

RobertSchuldenfrei · July 30, 2014, 11:35:48 AM

Hi Forum Members,

The new rudder came in last week so Esprit du Vent is on the hard. We expect to have a steerable craft by Saturday. The reason for the long delay was Catalina had to wait for another production run.

Now that we have solved this problem a new one has come up. While the boat was dockside, three squirrels nested in the mainsail destroying same. To read about this issue reference the new thread: "The squirrels ate our mainsail." It is always something.

Cheers,

Bob

RobertSchuldenfrei · August 04, 2014, 06:24:43 AM

The job is done and Esprit du Vent is back in the water and at her home dock. The emergency tiller head comes in on Wednesday. That will complete the job. Thanks you Ron Hill for all of the good advice and tips.

lazybone · August 04, 2014, 01:13:52 PM

Looow aspect ratio.

Ron Hill · August 05, 2014, 03:07:38 PM

Bob : Don't want to alarm you as it may be an illusion from the angle that you took the picture, but your new rudder doesn't look like any C34 elliptical rudder that I've ever seen!!

Go to Projects (WiKi) and look at the rudder modification that I made by tracing a new factory C34 wing keel rudder and adding it to my old rudder.
Also look in the Mainsheet tech notes (late 1990s) and look at the line drawings that I published comparing the old to the new elliptical rudders for a C34.

A thought

Mike and Joanne Stimmler · August 05, 2014, 03:25:33 PM

Wow! I don't know if this is the new and improved rudder or not, but it definitely don't look like the one on my old boat.
I think it may be the proverbial barn door model.
The leading edge on mine tapered back going down and mine wasn't the new elliptical version.

RobertSchuldenfrei · August 25, 2014, 06:55:02 AM

Quote from: Ron Hill on August 05, 2014, 03:07:38 PM
Bob : Don't want to alarm you as it may be an illusion from the angle that you took the picture, but your new rudder doesn't look like any C34 elliptical rudder that I've ever seen!!

Go to Projects (WiKi) and look at the rudder modification that I made by tracing a new factory C34 wing keel rudder and adding it to my old rudder.
Also look in the Mainsheet tech notes (late 1990s) and look at the line drawings that I published comparing the old to the new elliptical rudders for a C34.

A thought

Hi Ron,

What's done is done. It was ordered from Catalina and I do not know where they got it from. The tiller cap came in and we installed it yesterday. The new mainsail gets installed on Wednesday so we shall see how she sails.

Cheers,

Bob