steering quadrant replacement

[steve stevens]

Hey everyone

Well, while in the Caicos islands sailing close hauled I heard a loud snap and lost a lot of steerage. When I inspected the steerage I found that my giant aluminum steering quadrant had snapped in half. Not a common problem, turns out. I'm assuming it's the original quadrant, so 36 years of corrosion and abuse finally took its toll.

We clamped the thing back together and drilled on aluminum plates to hold it together so we could make a passage to Dominican Republic, a place where we would be for a while and with more resources. Now's the time to fix it.

The quadrant was made by Yacht Specialties, which went out of business decades ago. In my searching the only company I found which makes a similar product is Edson. Being that a new quadrant would take some time for them to manufacture and at quite a cost, I've been searching for used ones. The best one I've found is this
http://www.marineconsignmentmaine.com/p-1260-edson-mangbronze-8-steering-quadrant-1-12-min-bore-iss2723.aspx

If I measured my rudder post correctly it has a diameter of 2 1/4". The listing says 1 1/2 min bore. A lot of steering quadrants are listed with "min bore" measurements. Is this meaning that the owner is asked to bore it out further if needed? Or clamp it down less fully?

Right now I'm hoping to order a used quadrant within the next few days so I can get it in time to leave here. My second idea is that there is plenty of welders here, and I could get it welded back together to last the next 3 months, before I put the boat away for the summer season where I'd have much more time to look for one. Should I trust a weld and backing plates for an 800nm sail?

I'm looking to you all for advice, and asking if anyone has had experience with replacing a steering quadrant from Yacht Specialties. Any advice would be great. Measurements and pictures available upon request.

Thanks!
-steve S/V Dorothy Ann

[Darrin F]

I would trust the weld for years. Fuck buying a new one from edson. They are extortionists. Have it welded correctly and you wont have problems with it again.
Maybe have some gussets put on to stiffen it up a bit.

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[Darrin F]

Just to be certain, post a pic of it so we can see where its broken. Also, where are you in the DR?

[Tyler En Cavale]

Hi.i third the weld trusting idea as long as the rest is in good shape. Also if you have room to work with ( moving around upside down over the top blocks) you can use any size quadrant that fits your post. Stieve in gcs should have a bunch he would nearly give you if you let him know what your doing.also i go have a look at these sunken boats in front of me if you sent the size of that post. cheers
Sent from my Kyocera Hydro

[Andrew Lea]

I also support welding.  Welding is good enough for the space shuttle and the moon lander, it is good enough for me.

On Mar 22, 2013 9:44 PM, "steve stevens" <stevev...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[steve stevens]

thanks yall.
so here's a pic. it snapped in half right at the bore, on each side. it's pretty corroded from years of being against a dissimilar metal, so im hoping to clean it up when taking it out. we were in caicos when it broke so not in touch with resources. we cut a street sign into four plates and machine screwed them into the sides to hold it together, hence the green metal. the bolt is what holds it into the rudder post. sketches me out that one bolt holds my whole rudder on. i put jb weld in the crack but that was a useless gesture. when it split it bent a little so there's so much force in it to tear it apart. it was a wild array of hoseclamps to get it into a position where we could screw plates into it. if we would have just had a giant c-clamp...


ill take yalls advice and weld it back together, maybe search for a used one when i get back to the states and have more time. i cheapest ive found right now is 400 and im not even positive itll work. im in luperon DR, there's a boatyard here now that isn't officially "open" i don't think but they haul boats out and have lots of tools. the people there are great and there are a couple welders there, it's just finding someone who's going to do a good job. so yea we work on some things there and we borrow tools from each other, so if anyone needs a boatyard in the caribb for hella cheap, there's one here.

k, thnx yall.

[Darrin F]

Ah. I see. What you want to invest in when you get near a west marine is a 2oz tub of Tef-Gel, for all your galvanic corrosion needs. The shit is amazing. Perhaps you've heard of it, but didn't take absolutely everything on your boat apart just to use it. :-p

[Donna Lange]

I am with you on using the Tef Gel. Great stuff. I have to agree with
the concensus. A weld and the bolts look good. Overall, the quadrant
looks good. You may just need to give it a real clean up and find that
the welded piece will be a keeper.
good luck.
Donna

Captain Donna Lange
Executive Director
OceansWatch North America
do...@oceanswatch.org
401 323 1484
skype: inspiredinsanity