Rudder removal - E31

[David Vaughn]

We are hauled out for bottom paint and a couple of other things, but I have run into a complication.

The E31’s rudder’s leading edge, below the waterline, partially resides in a concave indentation in the hull. This means I can’t remove old paint or apply new to that area, of the leading edge of the rudder, without removing the rudder. The complication is the steering quadrant passes through a small opening in the transom. It’s the middle pintle looking piece in the photo. The quadrant looks to be too wide to pass back out through that opening.

I’ve found some threads on 31I and 36C rudder clunk, and think I understand the basics of removing it. But, for E31 or E36C owners that have removed theirs, any tricks or tips before I disconnect the quadrant from the rudder and then remove the rudder? Can the quadrant remain attached to the steering cables or is it better to remove them?

 

[Kenneth K]

Man, I don't think I'd drop the rudder just to paint that small area. Or, if so, maybe once every third haul out or so (and to do some routine rudder, cable, and sheave mx), but not every time.

The concave side could probably be sanded and prepped by running sheets of sand paper up/ down along the surface. The concave side with sandpaper pressed into the curve by foam blocks.

If you can't fit a paint brush in there, a paint-soaked wash cloth would work.

All of that would be quicker, easier, and cheaper than dropping the rudder.

Also, that prop looks like it extends out pretty far past the strut. I think 1 to 2 times the shaft diameter is considered ideal. My prop originally extended past the strut by about 4" so I had the prop shaft shortened when I replaced the PSS.

Too much shaft extension is hard on the strut and cutlass bearing, and it can increase drivetrain vibrations.

 

[David Vaughn]

I’d like to take your advice Kenneth, but as far as I know the paint that we’re removing is probably 7 or 8 years old, and this fall we’re headed to saltwater, so I want to prep and repaint that area to preempt something setting up housekeeping in that space.
I also want to check the shoe that the bottom pintle rests in for wear. We don’t currently have the “clunk”, but I’d like to see if that’s in our future and deal with it early rather than later.
So for those reasons, I’m okay dropping it. We’re in a DIY yard so not really much extra cost involved.

As for the shaft, I was under the impression that’s by design. The way the hull curves down toward keel before it gets to the strut doesn’t leave much room to shorten the shaft and maintain tip clearance without reducing the prop diameter.

 

[dt222]

David, on my 31 I follow what Kenneth suggested- I just hand-sand with a piece of sandpaper and then reach in with a brush with paint. Our boat is only in salt water, but only for 5 months- for 7 months it is out of the water and covered so the amount of growth on the bottom is small. I would not want to try and drop the rudder unless I had to.

 

[David Vaughn]

Thanks Don. If the paint was in better shape, I’d be glad to go that route. We’ve got a good bit of growth in that space and on ours, the lower portion of the rudder fits surprisingly close, I’m not sure I could get a brush in there well enough to cover all of it.

I got the steering quadrant arm off yesterday. It came off pretty easily, and much less corrosion than I expected. When the weather clears, a couple of guys at the yard offered to help me lift it off.

 

[dt222]

Another thought might be to see if a wooden dowel with adhesive sandpaper would fit in there or a foam sanding block to remove the growth and then a foam brush or small foam roller for painting. Keep us posted as to your progress (in case I ever have to drop/remove mine).

 

[dt222]

David, I had another thought as I went to the boat today and looked at the rudder. Might is be easier to remove the 14 bolts that attach the rudder and pull it back?

 

[David Vaughn]

Hmmm. Interesting idea. I wouldn’t want to stress the bottom fitting and cause the “clunk” that I currently don’t have, but that’s a thought.
If these storms would move through so I can get back over there, I’ll look at that.

 

[David Vaughn]

Well it’s off.

A few days ago, I removed the steering quadrant. Then bad weather came through. Today, I spent the morning with a can pf PB Blaster, a wrench, socket with breaker bar and 24" extension, and finally an impact driver with the same extension, trying to get the upper bolt loose. Shortly before lunch the nut came off, without damage. Not knowing how heavy the rudder is, before going further I thought some help might be in order. The yard owner said he would get a couple of his guys to come help but when they hadn’t showed by 3 pm, I got tired of waiting. Rigged a line over the transom to take the load while I took the upper bolt out, then slowly let off tension until the rudder was free from the upper mount. Now for the fun part.

The bottom pin is only about 1.5" long so it's not much distance to lift, but once the rudder is lifted, its weight makes it want to swing away from the shoe it rests in. I placed a sturdy stool about two inches underneath the rudder and gave it a heave. The momentum would likely have knocked me over had the stool not been there. I'm guessing the rudder weighs somewhere around 100 pounds and it's as tall as I am, so unwieldy would be a good description. From the stool, I sat it onto a piece of plywood, then lowered it to the ground. Not the most elegant process, but it worked and no animals were harmed in the removal.


In another situation this would not have been as difficult, but when the yard moved the boat to its current location they didn't give me a lot of room to work on the stern. The concrete pad ends a few feet aft of the transom and the ground slopes away rather quickly. But it's off and now that I can see it I'm glad I took it off. The concave area in the transom looks like it has not been properly painted in years, maybe decades. Some spots look like they've never had paint. More worrying are the cracks I found at the base of the rudder, just above the pin. I doubt I would have ever seen them without removing it. Now I can grind them out and re-glass that area.



So there you are. One person can remove the rudder from an E31 Independence. It's not the most fun I've had, but I'm glad I did it. This time. Next time... maybe not.

 

[dt222]

Great work David. Now we all know what that project entails.

 

[gabriel]

in retrospect, couldn’t you have turned the rudder hard one way, worked and painted exposed leading edge, then do the same with the other half? Maybe not, I know things look easier through a photo.

either way, looks like there’s some slight delamination to repair, so it’s a good thing you took it off.

 

[David Vaughn]

Sadly no. We tried.

On ours the fit of the leading edge into the concave slot was snug at the top and tight at the bottom. You can kinda see from the photo the areas they tried to get a small brush into, with limited success. Those green areas toward the bottom of the slot, that looks to be original gelcoat.

Maybe with the quadrant arm off, we could have forced the rudder further over to each side and painted most of its leading edge, but there just wasn’t enough of a gap to paint, not to mention prep, the slot and get good coverage.

All things considered it wasn’t too bad, and being able to closely examine the rudder and the slot was worth the trouble. I wouldn’t do it every haul out, but maybe every other one or third one.

We’re back in the water now. New paint, new anode, new stuffing box stuffing. Yesterday evening we finished the 36 mile trip from the boatyard to our marina. Nice to have all that behind us.