Sidewinder transom

Just bought a Sidewinder - sail #72 - 1972 model, don't have the hull number handy. I haven't had her out yet, but I did notice that the transom seems to flex a bit, mostly near the top of the mounting plate for the rudder. Is this normal? Everything looks fine - just more flex than expected. The rudder plate is bolted through a piece of ply in the transom that I can see through an access plate - it's seen better days, but the four mounting bolts are tight. Mainly worried about tear-out if I ever hit something with the rudder locked down.

Thanks - Dan

I've never seen flex in this area before. If you have plywood and an access plate to get to it, someone put those there intentionally. Perhaps to fix the initial problem. You could aways try to reinfoce it further with something stronger, perhaps an aluminum plate.

The rudder is designed to pop up easily to anything you might hit, so I would not worry too much about that (assuming it is an original rudder).

Paul
Webmaster: sailmfg.com

Paul,

Thanks for your reply, but that leads me to a new question. The access panel is not big enough for the plywood piece to fit through, so if it isn't original equipment, I'm pondering how it got in there. Is it possible that someone split the deck from the hull at some point. If you remove the aluminum rub rail, is there a hull-to-deck joint, or is the rub rail all that holds it together. Make sense? The only other option I can think of is that the rudder plate ripped through the transom and that there is a repair that is hidden by both the plate on the outside and the plywood on the inside. Looks like I need to remove the plate and have a look.

-Dan

Dan,

Now that's interesting.

Splitting the hull would not be easy. I believe there are staples that actually hold the hulls together (covered by the rub rails), and who knows what else (glue?). Perhaps I am wrong and the wood is original equipment. after all. But I do know the access hole is not original.

Let's say the wood is original. If the sidewinder were submerged for some period of its life, the wood would probably get soggy and spongy. Could this be part of the problem?

Keep us posted.

Paul
Webmaster: sailmfg.com

Paul,

I removed the rudder plate and found a crack in the transom about 6" wide that someone had tried to fix unsuccessfully with a Bondo-like material. I cleared out the old material and got down to good fiberglass. There's now 5 or 6 layers of fiberglass cloth and polyester resin 2" past the original crack. I just remounted the rudder plate and it's really solid now. Won't win any beauty contests, but most of the repair is actually covered up by the aluminum plate - not bad. Thanks again for your input. May get to take her out this afternoon.

-Dan

I also have a 1972 Sidewinder. The rudder mounts were also loose. I cut an access hole and found the plywood backing to be rotted out. Same for the hiking strap backing. Therefore, the plywood is the original backing material.

-Brad