Wooden Rudder

BCC Forum
1

Greetings,

Solimar is fitted with a wooden rudder. Finding that the rudder bushings were worn I replaced them. In the process of removing the rudder both sacrificial retaining bolts sheered off. Trust me I did everything possible for this NOT to happen…Seriously.

My question(s) are:

  • How buoyant is the rudder? Will it float of the pintles? I would imagine the rudder could easily get bounced, so to speak, off the pintles in a heavy sea.

Note, from day one of owning BCC 114 I installed half inch blocks of starboard in the cutouts to prevent this happening in the event of the bolts failing. The blocks are easily knocked out in the event of grounding.

= Will my starboard blocks suffice or do I need to figure out how to drill out the two sacrificial bolts?

  • Any tricky tricks on how to drill out the sheered bolts. There is no possible drilling angle due to the cutout dimensions.

  • I don’t have access to hi end boatyard services or tool shops as we are still in French Polynesia so please consider this in your response.

Thank you,
Kendal

2

kkbanks Wrote:

Greetings,

Solimar is fitted with a wooden rudder.
I have no experience with a wooden rudder, only a foam/fiberglass one.

Finding that the rudder bushings were worn I replaced
them.
Good idea.

In the process of removing the rudder both sacrificial retaining bolts sheered off. Trust me I did everything possible for this NOT to happen…Seriously.

My question(s) are:

  • How buoyant is the rudder? Will it float of the
    pintles? I would imagine the rudder could easily
    get bounced, so to speak, off the pintles in a
    heavy sea.

Note, from day one of owning BCC 114 I installed
half inch blocks of starboard in the cutouts to
prevent this happening in the event of the bolts
failing. The blocks are easily knocked out in the
event of grounding.

= Will my starboard blocks suffice or do I need to
figure out how to drill out the two sacrificial
bolts?

  • Any tricky tricks on how to drill out the
    sheered bolts. There is no possible drilling angle
    due to the cutout dimensions.

  • I don’t have access to hi end boatyard services
    or tool shops as we are still in French Polynesia
    so please consider this in your response.

Thank you,
Kendal

I think I’d replace the bolts. So you twisted off the head of the bolt? If you remove the rudder do you have enough access to the pintle pin to be able to drill out the old bolt? If not I guess you’ll have to remove the pintle from the rudder which would make using a drill press possible. Using new sharp drills, starting small, and then using an extractor has worked for me in similar situations.