Rudder Eyebolt failure
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:29 pm
Greetings all PS owners and builders,
Puffin, my CLC PS (launched July, 2018) sustained a semi-catastrophic failure of its rudder's upper eyebolt while at its mooring last week. Luckily a passing sailor noted the rudder dangling off the transom and lashed rudder and tiller to minimize motion until I retrieved the boat for a closer examination. The photos below provide more graphic documentation, but suffice it to report that the eyebolt simply fractured about a half-inch within the rudder leaving the rudder attached solely by the lower eyebolt and the tiller (which I typically lash to prevent untoward rudder motion while Puffin is moored). The dangling rudder abraded the rudder's forward face (photo), tiller, and transom opening.
I now ask all readers for help and advice:
1. Why did this happen? I installed the rudder's eyebolts exactly as described in the PS manual (pp 256 - 259). Some PS Forum writers have noted above that embedding SS bolts in epoxy is a set-up for failure, but John Harris has done this for years without issue. (BTW, my epoxy was MAS, not WEST.)
2. What do I do now? How do I extract the stub of the eybolt from the rudder (without further damaging the rudder? If I can restore the rudder stock sufficiently somehow, should I reinstall the rudder per the manual - or do something different entirely? Thicker bolts?
3. Should I be concerned with the rudder's lower eyebolt? Other eyebolts? Did I have a metallurgically defective upper rudder eyebolt (among the otherwise excellent CLC-supplied hardware packages)?
4. From the looks of the abraded wood, these rudder surfaces require sanding to wood, repeated epoxy application, and repainting (as will the tiller and transom). Agree?
Thank you all in advance for any advice or suggestions you post. If this had to happen, I suppose I should be grateful that it happened while Puffin was moored rather than underway, but I think that's likely the end of my sailing season.
Mark Nunlist
Puffin, my CLC PS (launched July, 2018) sustained a semi-catastrophic failure of its rudder's upper eyebolt while at its mooring last week. Luckily a passing sailor noted the rudder dangling off the transom and lashed rudder and tiller to minimize motion until I retrieved the boat for a closer examination. The photos below provide more graphic documentation, but suffice it to report that the eyebolt simply fractured about a half-inch within the rudder leaving the rudder attached solely by the lower eyebolt and the tiller (which I typically lash to prevent untoward rudder motion while Puffin is moored). The dangling rudder abraded the rudder's forward face (photo), tiller, and transom opening.
I now ask all readers for help and advice:
1. Why did this happen? I installed the rudder's eyebolts exactly as described in the PS manual (pp 256 - 259). Some PS Forum writers have noted above that embedding SS bolts in epoxy is a set-up for failure, but John Harris has done this for years without issue. (BTW, my epoxy was MAS, not WEST.)
2. What do I do now? How do I extract the stub of the eybolt from the rudder (without further damaging the rudder? If I can restore the rudder stock sufficiently somehow, should I reinstall the rudder per the manual - or do something different entirely? Thicker bolts?
3. Should I be concerned with the rudder's lower eyebolt? Other eyebolts? Did I have a metallurgically defective upper rudder eyebolt (among the otherwise excellent CLC-supplied hardware packages)?
4. From the looks of the abraded wood, these rudder surfaces require sanding to wood, repeated epoxy application, and repainting (as will the tiller and transom). Agree?
Thank you all in advance for any advice or suggestions you post. If this had to happen, I suppose I should be grateful that it happened while Puffin was moored rather than underway, but I think that's likely the end of my sailing season.
Mark Nunlist