Wheel to Tiller conversion E29

[ryn246]

Hi all!

First-time post here on this fantastic forum.

Last summer I purchased a 1973 E29 and am slowly chipping away on restoring her. One of the many projects on my list is to replace my wheel with the tiller that came with the boat. The PO converted it to a wheel and thankfully left the tiller and parts with the boat when it was sold to me. For the size of the boat and my preference for a tiller, I'd like to get rid of the wheel, box, and quadrant.

Question for you all? Is it possible to do the conversion in the water without risking the rudder dropping?

Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[Alan Gomes]

I don't know about the E29 in particular, but likely the rudder, when new, was neutral or slightly buoyant. (The replacement rudder I purchased for my E26 from Foss Foam had positive buoyancy.) However, you can't assume that is still the case because of possible water saturation and so forth.

What I did when I had to lower but not entirely remove the rudder on a previous boat was to run a line athwartships that passed underneath the rudder and was cleated off port and starboard. This served as a safety line to keep the rudder from dropping down out of the rudder tube. Perhaps you could do something like that here.

 

[toddster]

Supposedly, the thing floats. So it should not drop out. Plus or minus whether or not it's full of water... My level of general paranoia would lead me to suit-up and nip under and tie some barrel hitches around the rudder to keep it from dropping. Might even consider trying to work some grease in there from the bottom.

 

[toddster]

BTW, I imagine that water - filters - through that structure, but did the PO install a new cockpit drain in the forward part of the cockpit? If so, I'm somewhat interested in how it was done as I'm contemplating adding one.

 

[ryn246]

Thanks all for your suggestions! Sounds like it might be worth securing the rudder, just in case.

And the PO did not install a new cockpit drain in the forward part of the cockpit.