Ericson 39 Rudder

[boatboy]

We currently have our new 39B hauled out to do a bottom job. In addition to all the bottom paint stuff, we need to deal with the rudder. It has developed a fair amount of play at the lower gudgeon. We will certainly need to drop the rudder, but it is by no means obvious how to do it.

Has anyone on this board dropped the rudder on a 39 or 39B? We would appreciate any tips you might have.

Thanks in advance,
Greg Davids
Pacifica, Ericson 39B

 

[Geoff Johnson]

Don't know about dropping it, but I believe this is the boat Ralph Naranjo (writes for Cruising World and runs the Naval Academy sailing program) took around the world only to have the rudder tang welds fail in the Indian Ocean. I think he still has the boat. You might try contacting him.

 

[boatboy]

Close, but off by 2 feet

Thanks for the reply Geoff. After a bit of research I discovered that Ralph Naranjo actually sailed on an E41.

If anyone monitoring this board actually has done any work on an E39 rudder, I would love to hear from you.

Greg Davids
Pacifica, Ericson 39B

 

[Geoff Johnson]

Greg, sorry about the faulty memory. However, there is an article ("Second Thoughts", p. 24) in the May/June 2003 Good Old Boat magazine by Guy Stevens, the owner of an Ericson 39. Maybe the magazine will give you his email address.

Or you might check with these guys, who took their 1972 E39 around the world (but nearly lost it in the Atlantic when it developed a huge crack):

http://www.ussmaverick.net/about.html


PS, the "second thoughts" were not about getting an Ericson, but about getting such a big boat.

 

[Rick Hale]

What would you like to know about the rudder,maybe I can help.You can contact me at bbs@boatbodyshop.com

 

[Loren Beach]

Guy Stevens is nowadays one of the Moderators on this site. Look at the bottom of the screen of the Forum for Ericsons Northern California and you will see his name. Click on it for a dialog box through which you can message him. He has a nice web site also with boat project photos.
Loren

 

[bbboat]

Guy is definitely the man to listen to about this. He helped talk me through dropping the rudder on my E39 just a couple months ago. It's actually not that difficult once you know where to look. He sent me a very detailed email with photos. If you still need instructions, send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

 

[quickj]

e-39 rudder

Guy is definitely the man to listen to about this. He helped talk me through dropping the rudder on my E39 just a couple months ago. It's actually not that difficult once you know where to look. He sent me a very detailed email with photos. If you still need instructions, send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

I want modify my E-39 rudder, so would definitely appreciate a copy of that email you referred to. (If you still have it after all these years!)

John
quickjantony@gmail.com

 

[Guy Stevens]

Sent email

I sent a copy of the email to you. Somewhere I have the plans for Bruce's modifications to the rudder too. It is a BIG file, as it is the print. Let me know if you need it. If I can't find the file, I can take it to Kinkos, ooops fedex office, and have it scanned again.

Guy