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grrr - Broke a rudder....


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I guess 40 years of boating may not eliminate dumbshit maneuvers.  Complacency?  Whatever...

 

I set the autopilot for the middle of the channel, and headed forward to drop the jib.  A sneaky 2 knot current running perpendicular to my path proved my undoing.   I looked up from my task to find a marker 20 feet off my port bow.  What the hell?  These are plastic cylinders, maybe .5 meter in diameter and may 1.5 meters tall.   I ran back to the helm, but too late.    It bounced down my port side (leaving no marks....)

 

The rudder, upon grabbing the channel marker's mooring chain, slowed me from maybe 9 knots to 6 before twisting, cracking and releasing the boat.  Fortunately, the lower half hung on.   After some grinding, the internal glass ibeam appears to be intact.  It is still fastened to the skin even right at the break area.  

 

I have removed all the damaged glass (skin mostly), tapered the break on both sides and am placing in several tapering layers of 6 ounce and 10 ounce glass over the area.   I want it strong, but not bullet proof.   It would appear that Mr. Tennant designed these things strong enough to be stable, but no so strong that the gudgeons get ripped out of the transom when hitting something.  

 

And for that, I am grateful...

 

 

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