RUDDER FAILURE on an Ocean Passage? Let’s find out! (Patrick Childress Sailing #61)
Losing the ability to steer a sailboat can quickly become a nightmare. We once assisted a sailboat in distress, SV Avatar, mid Pacific to try to fabricate a temporary rudder at sea, and its not something that you want to ever do. Every sailboat needs a good rudder system inspection, before crossing a big ocean, but there are parts of a rudder that are supposed to be hermetically sealed. So Patrick rips apart the rudder on this sailboat, inspects the rudder, and does a partial rudder repair/rudder rebuilt to this old sailboat.
Despite our rudder looking fine on the outside, in this episode, Patrick rips open the rudder of our Valiant 40 sailboat, to inspect the condition of the spline to shaft attachments to make sure this rudder will survive another ocean crossing and well beyond. He is happy with what he sees, but he has some welding done between the spline and the rudder shaft, and then builds it back up with polystyrene balls and Cenolite in epoxy. The build up is continued using 1708 cloth and fairing compound. Now, this rudder is stronger and better than when it first left the Valiant factory in 1976.
Join Patrick Childress for another great How to, DIY, Sailboat repair video! Patrick loves showing sailors how to fix up an old sailboat, and do sailboat maintenance, and even some sailing tips. He doesn't always make this old sailboat beautiful...but he always makes her seaworthy and dependable, ready to cross many oceans!