Bandit Rudder & Tiller repairs
Posted by Dave
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Bandit Rudder & Tiller repairs January 23, 2011 08:55PM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 33 |
When I first got it, the weakest part of my Bandit 17 was the rudder and tiller; it had been patched up a little, but seemed pretty shaky to me. The rudder bracket had been cracked and a section of stainless steel wrapped around it to help out.
[www.sailmfg.com]
I found that the hinge pin for the rudder was bent when I took that out, so I straightened it out by squeezing it straight in my bench vise. (I padded the vise jaws with oak scraps to keep from scratching it up.) The rudder bracket is fiberglass and had been cracked some time in the past. I sanded down both sides of the crack and glued it together with JB Weld epoxy. I used a "rope clamp" to help hold the bottom part of the bracket together while drying.
[www.sailmfg.com]
The bracket includes a plastic tube to hold the hinge pin and that had also come away from the rudder bracket, so I sanded the area down and reinforced it with more JB Weld epoxy.
[www.sailmfg.com]
This really made the rudder bracket and tube one solid piece again. By the way, you can't put too much epoxy in this area; the rope to pull the rudder up must slip between the rudder and the inside of the rudder bracket. I had to file the epoxy down a bit to make it easier for the rope to slide between them easily.
Then I sanded down the outsides of the rudder bracket under the steel patch and glued it down with a waterproof polyurethane construction adhesive, making sure that all the holes in the steep lined up with the holes in the bracket. I clamped it together for more than 24 hours.
[www.sailmfg.com]
I tightened up all the other bolts & nuts holding the rudder bracket together and it's in good shape now. The top part of the rudder assembly is a square aluminum tube to hold the tiller.
[www.sailmfg.com]
I also sanded down the wood rudder, hung it up to work on, stained it to what I thought it might have been originally (a reddish mahogany color), and varnished it 3 times. I don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's held up very well. T
[www.sailmfg.com]
he heavy varnish coat will really help it last - but also made it thicker than originally (sigh). I had to add nylon spacers inside the rudder bracket to keep it from squeezing the rudder so hard that it didn't move up and down easily.
I had also removed the tiller earlier and I sanded/stained/varnished it, too. It didn't seem to fasten back down on the aluminum support very well, so I inserted an oak dowel rod inside the square aluminum so the tiller screws would have something to grab on to - MUCH better. It's really solidly attached now.
I put the whole thing back on the boat and it's worked very well ever since. (I still don't like the up/down rope arrangement very well, but it does work.) When I'm trailering the boat, I keep the rudder on it and support everything with a weird double-sling support I just happened to find at Harbor Freight. (When I park it, I can use the lower sling to hold the rudder off the ground by clipping it to one of the stern U-bolt/chain plates.
[www.sailmfg.com]
FYI,
Dave
[www.sailmfg.com]
I found that the hinge pin for the rudder was bent when I took that out, so I straightened it out by squeezing it straight in my bench vise. (I padded the vise jaws with oak scraps to keep from scratching it up.) The rudder bracket is fiberglass and had been cracked some time in the past. I sanded down both sides of the crack and glued it together with JB Weld epoxy. I used a "rope clamp" to help hold the bottom part of the bracket together while drying.
[www.sailmfg.com]
The bracket includes a plastic tube to hold the hinge pin and that had also come away from the rudder bracket, so I sanded the area down and reinforced it with more JB Weld epoxy.
[www.sailmfg.com]
This really made the rudder bracket and tube one solid piece again. By the way, you can't put too much epoxy in this area; the rope to pull the rudder up must slip between the rudder and the inside of the rudder bracket. I had to file the epoxy down a bit to make it easier for the rope to slide between them easily.
Then I sanded down the outsides of the rudder bracket under the steel patch and glued it down with a waterproof polyurethane construction adhesive, making sure that all the holes in the steep lined up with the holes in the bracket. I clamped it together for more than 24 hours.
[www.sailmfg.com]
I tightened up all the other bolts & nuts holding the rudder bracket together and it's in good shape now. The top part of the rudder assembly is a square aluminum tube to hold the tiller.
[www.sailmfg.com]
I also sanded down the wood rudder, hung it up to work on, stained it to what I thought it might have been originally (a reddish mahogany color), and varnished it 3 times. I don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's held up very well. T
[www.sailmfg.com]
he heavy varnish coat will really help it last - but also made it thicker than originally (sigh). I had to add nylon spacers inside the rudder bracket to keep it from squeezing the rudder so hard that it didn't move up and down easily.
I had also removed the tiller earlier and I sanded/stained/varnished it, too. It didn't seem to fasten back down on the aluminum support very well, so I inserted an oak dowel rod inside the square aluminum so the tiller screws would have something to grab on to - MUCH better. It's really solidly attached now.
I put the whole thing back on the boat and it's worked very well ever since. (I still don't like the up/down rope arrangement very well, but it does work.) When I'm trailering the boat, I keep the rudder on it and support everything with a weird double-sling support I just happened to find at Harbor Freight. (When I park it, I can use the lower sling to hold the rudder off the ground by clipping it to one of the stern U-bolt/chain plates.
[www.sailmfg.com]
FYI,
Dave
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