Well I wasn’t expecting my first post for a year to be this……
When we bought Anne Marie she was high and dry in the boatyard with a broken rudder. The shaft had been bent and the yard owner and sliced through the shaft with an angle grinder. We were told that the rudder had come out of its lower pintle due to constant grounding in the mud berth. The shaft had then bent by the force of the boat, current and mud.
I designed a new shaft and after a lot of searching found the correct sized stainless steel bar. I had it machined and welded, and designed and fitted a new set of bearings and repaired the hull. This is described in a previous post.
But yesterday I thought the top of the shaft looked different and it wouldn’t turn so today at low tide I looked and this is what I found:
You can clearly see that instead of being nice and straight the rudder is bent sideways. So I have booked a slot at a neighbouring yard’s drying area for two weeks time. I will remove the rudder , making sure the boat is leak-proof and start the repairs. I will also try to drop it further back tomorrow so that the bottom of the rudder is not in the mud (good luck with that).
So much for our first sail in August! BOATS!
Saving Anne Marie 
That looks painful – commiserations. I hope it’s not too big a job at the bottom end. I’m bringing an Endurance 37 back up to scratch myself – happy to compare notes if you want to email me, though you’ve had a bigger project than mine.
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Thanks Nicholas. I am hoping to take the rudder off in the next few days and see where the shaft has bent. If it has affected the hull and lower bearing then it will be a big job!
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That must have been some pressure if it bent a stainless steel rudder post .
Onwards and upwards as they say !
Sent from my iPad
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40mm diameter stainless steel! That needs some pressure to bend it!
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It looks like the rudder (and boat) cannot take the ground. Possibly the tide was pushing on the hull once the rudder was bedded into the ground causing the bend?
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Yes although it has been on this mooring for two years quite happily. Anne Marie has a long keel so sits well in her slot but the last month has seen a load of wind which could have moved her sideways as the tide falls meaning the rudder is not in its groove. Also as the tide goes out the rudder is turned down stream so again this may mean more pressure.
I have today moved her one metre out into the river so her stern should be in free air! Just need to strengthen the mooring lines to stop her sliding into the river Brede.
I am going to try to remove the rudder at the weekend when there is more tide available for access to the stern by dinghy. I designed the rudder shaft so that we could remove it by undoing some bolts. Fingers crossed.
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It looks like the rudder (and boat) cannot take the ground. Possibly the tide was pushing on the hull once the rudder was bedded into the ground causing the bend?
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