pull the rudder one

with the boat rapidly becoming swiss cheese, the time came to finally drop that rudder and replace the bearings.



easier said than done.

first a hole had to be dug and with most jobs like this, there is always a foreman, a tea boy and a grafter.
I opted for being the tea boy, my dad stood propping his hands on his hips making sure the job went to plan and Mr X did the digging, because, as a building site labourer, he said "Im used to it"
I did the blagging part, as tea boy, and went over to the local builders who are currently constructing a new toilet block and laundry facility for the marina and begged for a spade.

I did wonder if I should ask first before starting to dig up part of the marina, but decided to just get on with it, asking questions shows doubt in ones mind. Doubt, is a sign of weakness and the last thing I want to show anyone right now is any kind of weakness. When it comes to DIFY, I need to keep a clear mind as to what I want, when and how Im going to do it.
Having secured the use of a spade, I quietly retired to camera duties (as well as putting the kettle on.)

with the rudder released, next came the bearing. It was glued in with a resin type of glue, araldite or something like that. It needed cutting and hammering and a bit of persuading to come out.


The last skin fitting was ready to come out after a little bit of preparation with some high prescision tooling.


the new skin fittings are in 316 stainless


The rudder is a sorry looking thing. A bronze collar has caused galvanic corrosion of the aluminium stock. Its not looking too pretty.


further investigation reveals the extent of the corrosion.


Im not exactly sure what Im going to do next. possibly retire to my chamber to contemplate my options.

hmm.