Upper Rudder Support Replacement

[Christian]

Hi Guys!

I has been a while since I last posted. Work and life got in the way. I did go to the boat a few times and basically relaxed and took some measurements for the repair. I will be going there this weekend and start on the process. I have a few pictures coming. I basically decided to line the wood stringers with 3/4" thick aluminum plates 4 feet long for each of the stringers. It should be plenty strong. The difficulty is the access. As mentioned before, the engines are quite close to that area. Furthermore, I decided to do the repair with the engines in place. There was no sense in removing them, fixing the stringers, replacing the engines and realigning them before being sure that the engines are working properly. My repairs, although a stop gap measure should last a good 20+ years... If I need to remove the engines in the future, I will fix the stringers "properly".

Pictures to come.

I hope you all had a fantastic boating season!

Cheers,

Christian

[Barrie]

Hey Christian, glad you have a plan.
Looks like it will be a bit of a job regardless of what you do, and likely stronger than original if you do the aluminum plate idea.
If I felt it necessary to go that route, I would "laminate" the plates with bolts every 12-16" to the outside of each stringer x4 and put as large a washer or plate as possible on the inside (under the engine) to sandwich it together.
Honestly I would be more concerned with the Vdrive area as it looks like it would have all or most of the load on it from the props and shafts.
But I'm no engineer or boat expert so there's that.

Good luck with it!

[Paul - SW Ontario]

[Paul - SW Ontario]

[Christian]

Hi Paul! Nice setup! Since I don't want to remove the stringers and engines at this time, I will have to do a less elegant fix for now.
Barrie, your ideas is what I had in mind...

As promised here is the progress for today.
Last week, I got some aluminum plates at Metal Supermarket in Ottawa. about 7" high by 3/4" thick by 4 feet long. Times 4 for both sides of the boat. I used a non ferrous circular saw blade to "rip" the material to size. Since the access is limited, I had to cut my 4 foot lengths to 2 feet long and make a backing plate the affix both lengths together once in place. Here is a dry fit to check the bolt pattern before going in.

IMGP2034 test fit1.jpg (94.12 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

IMGP2035 test fit2.jpg (91.31 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

[Christian]

So, Step 1, empty the bilge and remove the carpet in the aft cabin...

IMGP2031 remove carpet.jpg (108.37 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

then, step 2, remove the floor!

IMGP2032 remove floor.jpg (116.12 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

[Christian]

Step 3, shimmy the first piece in place.

IMGP2036 dryfit1.jpg (111.26 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

Step 4, Shimmy the second piece in place

IMGP2039dryfit3.jpg (107.45 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

IMGP2042dryfit4.jpg (108.93 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

[Christian]

Once all was bolted and torqued properly, I clamped the assembly in place ready to drill the stringers and plates.

IMGP2047ready to punch.jpg (121.29 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

I then drilled the stringers with the plates in place, removed everything and drilled the aluminum plates separately and replaced everything back in their final resting place ready to bolt. I have not bolted it in place as I forgot to measure the thickness of the final assembly last time I was at the boat...
Oh well. I'll have to place another order from Mc Master Carr. Shipping is fast and cheap...

[Christian]

I then started work on the second side.

IMGP2056second side.jpg (113.74 KiB) Viewed 8395 times

I then hit a problem that I will have to deal with tomorrow. The second plate interferes with the fuel line on the port engine...
It is taking shape... I have the week off to work on this. Hopefully I will get her done.
Talk to you guys tomorrow.

Cheers,

Christian

[Christian]

Oh! Before anyone asks. I calculated the 3/4" thick aluminum plate strength versus white oak and found that the plates are about 5% stronger than the 2" white oak stringers... Therefore even if the stringers are completely gone, I am still better off than the original design...

Christian

[Bubbabuda]

I replaced both rudder supports, part of the bulkhead under sliding saloon doors, complete back deck, and most of saloon sub floor. Pics are in my photobucket. Yes the wood is white oak.

[Christian]

OK! I am back at the boat. Sunday, I realized that some aluminum plates did not fit. I had not counted on some unforeseen obstructions. I re-measured and modified the plates. Ordered bolts, flat washers (oversized fender type at 1-1/2 inch in diameter), lock washers and nuts to affix the plates to the stringers. the plate on the left side, in the picture below, is loosely fitted ready to bolt permanently and torqued. I just need to cut the bolts down a bit to make a tidy install. the plate on the right is in place and needs to be drilled to receive the bolts. Hopefully, all the plates will fit fine this time around... sorry for the picture quality. I thought I had everything for the day. Obviously, I forgot the camera! So, I used the phone.

IMG_20150930_181216s.jpg (90.67 KiB) Viewed 8376 times

Access is a bitch as most of the bolts are located under the engines and all the grounding wires are run inboard of the stringers... Oh well, that is part of the fun
I should be able to complete the work tomorrow if I survive the night! It is supposed to be 3 deg. C tonight. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Cheers,

Christian

[Christian]

Hi Guys,

I thought I would report on the last step of the rudder support replacement. I am happy to say that the job is complete for the most part. I was able to cut the white oak to size, cut a hole for the bearing, bolt it in place and paint them with bilge paint. Again installing was difficult due to the limited access...

IMGP2084small.jpg (111.24 KiB) Viewed 8353 times

Some of you may notice that the spring pin is not completely in . I only had a hammer to push it in and feared that I would bend it out of shape or break it. I will need a "C" clamp to press it in properly. All I need to do now is properly attach and support the grounding wires that I removed for access.

Hopefully this thread will be helpful to someone in the same predicament.

Cheers guys.

Christian

[rickalan35]

Great Job!

[Barrie]

Yes, that is a great job