E30-II outboard rudder lower gudgeon failure.

[Ericson 30-II]

Hi, My Eboat sufferred a serious failure 3 miles off of MDR yesterday when I heard the outboard rudder bumping around. I still had steering.But the lower bronze gudgeon which is permanently imbedded into "hardened epoxy" in the hull at bottom of transom had broken at the pivot point. The rudder was suspended by it's top mount / pivot and it's steering quadrant and cables. The lower bronze bushing still on the pintle. It still steered the boat effectively in the mild conditions and I made it back without further incident.

I recently rebuilt the rudder, It is a solid glass rudder, no foam. Very heavy. I fixed a few blisters, new barrier coat and new bottom paint on the rudder. Also, a new pintle bronze bushing at the bottom of the rudder. This is where the faulure happened.

I post this in case anyone has any advice on how to proceed. I have some ideas but just I wonder if this is at all common? I understand this site has some links to the original Ericson factory knowledge. Has anyone seen this before. I understand there were only some 48 or so of these E30-II's produced so there is not a large sample to look at but maybe someone has seen something similar and has an idea on how best to repair.

Thanks for your consideration.

Bregan.

Ericson 30-II, Hull 26

 

[Loren Beach]

A fellow club member used to race his E-30/2 offshore for many seasons with no failures. I would guess that, like any cast metal can have, your lower rudder gudgeon had an internal casting flaw. Such a weak point can take years to show up.
A new cast part from an experienced foundry might last for another 50 years...
If (?) you have (or can create) the rest of the missing part, a foundry might be able to use it for a mold.

Best of luck,

Loren

 

[Ericson 30-II]

View of gudgeon

This is (hopefully) a view of a similar setup. The yellow line is where it broke off completely.

This is also an Ericson 30-II, hull #3, pic from info exchange archives. Almost identical to mine.

On my boat, hull 23, the bronze gudgeon is identical but longer. That is, it projects out almost two inches now even after the circular part that used to house the gudgeons bronze bushing snapped off. This is the only difference from the photo.

It is now a 1.75 inch stub of rectangular bronze stock projecting out of the hull. Part of what the owners brochure describes as a 8lb bronze bar embedded in hardened epoxy.

What can you do with a Klondike bar?

Bregan

 

[Loren Beach]

Klondike Bar indeed!

I seem to remember Seth mentioning a SoCal yard that could do miracles for rudders and lots of other things for a reasonable fee. You might want to message him on this site.
If the original casting was embedded into the hull layup, you might get into designing a new version that fastens externally with bolts -- perhaps a bit more like the gudgeons on a J-30 or similar.


Loren

 

[Ericson 30-II]

Thanks.

Thanks Loren for the quick and helpful responses. I think I will end up with something strapped in place, all in bronze with 5200 involved. I assume I can locate bronze bolts and hardware??

I am thinking of taking the opportunity to make something overbuilt so I can worry about other things.

Best, Bregan

 

[Seth]

Rudder help

Hi Bregan,

Sorry to hear of your plight..

Just to confirm, did the piece on the rudder fail or the piece glassed to the hull?

As has been mentioned, a longer pintle has been a common long term repair on these boats.

As to cause, I agree this is likely either a bad casting or even just fatigue.

Who knows if the part has been stressed in some strange way by a boat yard at some point in the past-anything is possible, but after all these years it is not a big cause for alarm, just an annoying repair.

If it were me, and glass work/re-working or fabricating is involved, I would go to Dennis Choate (Dencho Marine), in San Pedro. He is fair and very, very good with this stuff-but he is a different sort of guy-a little aloof. Don't expect a super customer service attitude, but trust him to do what is needed well and fairly.

If you just need fabricating of a new metal part, contact Mark Shutts at Shutts Fabricators in Long Beach. Mark has done a lot of metal work for Dennis, and around town for years. If bending and welding is part of the job, he is the best in town.

Good luck-let me know if you need anything else.

Cheers,

S

 

[Ericson 30-II]

Hi Seth

Seth,

Thanks for the kind response. The failure was the 8lb. horizontal bronze bar glassed into the hull. The pivot point. Not in any part of the rudder itself, not the pintle.

This bronze bar holds the lower rudder bearing that the pintle slides up and into.

Thanks for the advice. I was under the impreression the only way out is to have something made at a foundry, something that can be mounted with horizontal straps riunning forward, bolted thru.

My boat is barely steerable so I have to fix it here in MDR.

Is the bronze used a known grade? I'd like to get the same but a bit heavier maybe.

Thanks again for going out of your way to help. I appreciate you.

Best Regards, Bregan :nerd:

 

[Seth]

What you can do..

Have the yard remove the broken bits, take them to Mark Shutts and have him make a new one for you, then have the yard re-glass it to the boat. Shutts will give you your options in terms of materials for the new piece.


Will that work?

 

[tripper_dave]

How did this get workerd out?

I am very interested in how you fixed this problem in the end as we now have a bent lower gudgeon which happened when our boat tipped out of its cradle in a haul-out accident. The rudder snapped in half at the water line and the gudgeon appears bent. Phil's Foils is able to duplicate the rudder (they've done a 30-2 rudder before) but I need to figure out how to fix or replace the lower gudgeon. Any advice welcome.

 

[tripper_dave]

Bump!

Still hoping to hear about how this was resolved. Does anyone know?

I am very interested in how you fixed this problem in the end as we now have a bent lower gudgeon which happened when our boat tipped out of its cradle in a haul-out accident. The rudder snapped in half at the water line and the gudgeon appears bent. Phil's Foils is able to duplicate the rudder (they've done a 30-2 rudder before) but I need to figure out how to fix or replace the lower gudgeon. Any advice welcome.