Ebbtide rudder

[Bill Robinson]

Hi Ben,
As I mentioned, Dudley Dix designed the steel rudder for my Ebbtide, with some input from me. You could try to contact him, he may still have the drawings.

Basically, it consists of a 6mm flat front plate, to which the three S.S. gudgeons are welded. Matching gudgeons are welded to the transom, and pintles are S.S. bolts fitted with nuts and split pins. There are Vesconite bushings in the pintles. The rectangular tube, into which the tiller fits, is also S.S. This is essential to prevent rust. The rest of the hollow rudder is made from 3mm steel, strengthened with ribs. It seems heavy, but in fact it floats. There are saucer anodes on either side, (that never seem to corrode). It is brutally strong, and has survived a grounding in coral that would have destroyed a wooden rudder.
I can send you detailed sizes of the gudgeons, pintles etc.
Bill.
Aboard yacht JENAIN.

[Bill Robinson]

Hi Ben,

I did a lot of the S.S. work on Jenain. It is easy to weld S.S. to mild steel, using either an AC stick welder, a mig welder, or a tig welder. The last two are easier, but a good strong job can be done with an ordinary  arc welder. It is just a little more work to clean up and polish.

If you can get hold of Dudley, that will be good, but if not, I can make some sketches of the rudder for you. If the hollow rudder is properly welded, no water can get in, therefore no corrosion, but oil inside can do no harm. The big problem is often rust where the wooden tiller fits. That is why it is important to make this section from S.S. Having a steel boat with a wooden rudder has always seemed like a bad idea to me. The rig and the rudder, are the two main elements on a boat, that should never fail, and should be as strong as possible.

316 L stainless steel is a very good material for almost everything on a boat, except where it cannot get oxygen under water. I would never use S.S. in any part of an anchor system, such as shackles, swivels etc. I have painted some of the S.S. such as the toe rails, stanchion bases, bow roller cheeks etc. I also paint about the first 50mm of all S.S. fittings welded to the deck. This prevents corrosion creeping under the paint edge, but if the paint does gets scratched or damaged, rust does not start immediately.

Aboard yacht JENAIN.

On 30 Jul 2015, at 18:27, Ben Dyer <ben...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey Bill,

I haven't had any experience welding stainless steel.  From the sounds of it you seem to do a lot of the work yourself.  Have you got any advice regarding traps with stainless and/or welding stainless?  I am assuming you are using a "weld all" rod on stick welder?

I will definitely endeavour to get a hold of Dudley Dix regarding rudder design options.  With a bit of luck he can help me out.  I hear of some people filling their rudder with oil to prevent corrosion, any thoughts?

It would appear that you are a big fan of stainless for most things on the deck.  Is there anywhere you wouldn't use it?

Jenain is a real credit to you.  I hear what you are saying about the warm beer in one of the previous emails.

Ben

> Subject: Ebbtide rudder
> From: jenai...@yahoo.com
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 06:17:16 +0800
> CC: ebbtid...@googlegroups.com
> To: ben...@hotmail.com