Putting the rudder back together....

As you will have seen from a previous post I have decided to leave the original rudder "as is'. I could not resist, however, having a "look" at the two stress points;

a. The first bend
b. The base where the bronze rod enters the shoe.

One thing about fiberglass, when you get used to cutting into it, its hard to stop.

All the metal here appeared to be fine. If I ever enlarge the rudder this is the area that I will reinforce. There has been no history of failures (as far as I can tell from available information) on Whitby 42 rudders that have not been enlarged.


This is the bronze rod on the end of which (on the left) is a little nub (very worn) that rests in the shoe attached to the hull. The nub has been cut off, drilled out and will be replaced with a bronze bolt.

Bronze shoe. The rudder is also held by a gudgeon higher up.