Transom Failures

[Cal Sailing Club]

Our fleet of 6 Bahias has had several transoms fail. Owners of new
Bahias and Vagos should check their transoms regularly for signs of
failure so they can get it fixed before the hull goes out of warranty.

The problem is with the inserts that are embedded in the hull and that
serve as the lower point of attachment for the rudder. These inserts
are only supported by a single thickness of hull skin, plus some foam
which has very little strength. The lower gudgeon for the rudder is
attached to these inserts by five screws. When the rudder is heavily
loaded in strong wind, the load on the gudgeon creates a pulling force
on the inserts on one side, and eventually the hull skin will crack
around the lower inserts, and then the lower gudgeon for the rudder is
only supported by the plate. The plate is aluminum, and will bend up.

(Note: our boats have already been fitted with auto release cleats
for the rudder downhaul, which prevent rudder hits from causing this
damage; boats without the auto release cleat are at greater risk of
transom failure).

The fix for a failed transom is to throughbolt the lower gudgeon to an
insert that will spread the load on the gudgeons over the inner skin
of the hull at the transom. It takes several hours of work.

To see if your transom is failing, remove the rudder pin, remove the
screws holding the gudgeons and plate, and look for bulging and cracks
in the hull skin around the lower screw holes, especially the two that
are lowest and farthest outboard. If everything's fine, replace the
plate, and put medium strength loc-tite on the screws before bolting
the plate back on.

[Jeff Fedor]

Thanks for the pointer Pete

j