Rudder

[Jim Neuman]

I recently built and installed a new rudder on my Jason 35 "Light Beyond".  The reason for this was shaft corrosion at the top of the shell.  This corrosion did not appear severe but, as the rudder shaft on the factory rudder is a rather thin-walled tube, I felt it best not to push my luck. The new rudder was engineered by a local naval architect and is a solid 316 stainless shaft.

I offer the old rudder, free, to anyone who might be able to make use of it as a pattern in building a new one.  This could potentially shave a lot of time off of the process of building as new rudder as measurements can be made and the rudder built while the boat is still in the water.  It took me about two months to build a new rudder, the bulk of which was waiting for machining to be done.  During this time the boat was on the hard and out of commission.  Possession of a pattern rudder would turn this into a winter project instead of a spring-summer project.

Located in Port Townsend.

[shag mills]

Considerate offer.  Is there a story or pictures on the construct of the new rudder?

Mike Mills

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[Jim Neuman]

Mike 

I have some photo's and the engineering work and can describe how I went about it if anyone is about to embark on a similar project. I have lost most photo's with the death of my Iphone but they still exist on the cloud somewhere if I can access them.  The new rudder is probably 50# heavier than the old due to the solid rudder shaft and, I believe, far more stainless used in the framework.  I have not cut into the old rudder to see how it was constructed but It appears the upper and lower shafts are not connected as there is no electrical continuity between the two.  This leaves the lower shaft unprotected.  The new rudder has a 1/2" stainless plate measuring 44" x 12" welded to the rudder and is tapered aft by welding a 12" wide section of 1/4" plate to the aft end of the heavier plate.  All plate was cut to finish shape locally with a water jet.  Stainless is 316.  A cut-out for the prop was made in the 1/2" plate prior to welding.  The solid shaft was left full length until welding was finished in order to hold alignment.  Shell was a composite of high density coring foam and a mix of glass cloth, mat and roving.  West epoxy was used for the entire lay-up.  External dimensions and foil shape are identical to the old with the exception that I opened up the prop cutout to give my 16" maxprop a bit more clearance.  In practice I cannot tell the feel of the new rudder from the old ... probably a good thing.  I also added a upper bearing to the top of the new rudder shaft so that it now carries some of the load.

[shag mills]

Thanks for the information. No continuity between top and bottom shaft! Wonder if by design or if there is enough hidden corrosion.

Nice when a plan comes to completion and things work.

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