Ruddercraft (?) rudder repair

[Westhillrick]

I recently bought an early-model Suncat that came equipped with an after-market rudder.  Looks like a Ruddercraft.  A piece has broken off of the aft end of the blade.  I have the piece.  Will epoxy work to glue the piece back on?  The blade material appears to be some sort of plastic/polymer.  Even if the epoxy works, would the bond be strong enough to handle the forces on the blade in rough sailing conditions?  Perhaps I could wrap the repaired section with fiberglass cloth.

Thoughts?

[bruce]

Ruddercraft has used High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) for their blades. King Starboard is another example of HDPE. If you read MacGyver's post the other day, he has had success with G/flex bonding PVC, another hard to glue plastic. West Systems does say that G/flex will bond to polyethylene. I'd experiment with scraps of HDPE before trying it on your rudder.

HDPE can be plastic welded. My brief experiments with HDPE weren't encouraging, but I didn't invest in equipment designed for the task. I'd persue that before relying on G/flex. Adhesion of the resin will still be an issue if you try to glass the blade.

Can Ruddercraft sell you just the blade?

[Roland of Macatawa]

That looks like a short rudder blade compared to my SunDayCat Ruddercraft rudder blade.
Maybe it's just an optical illusion in the photograph.

Ruddercraft does sell a blade that fits the Com-Pac rudder head. That's what I have.
(I believe it is identical to the one that they sell to fit the Com-Pac-19)
I do not have the full Ruddercraft replacement rudder system.

See the Ruddercraft replacement SunCat rudder blade here:
https://store.ruddercraft.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=181_29&product_id=135
Note that it is not predrilled for the pivot hole.
You must carefully locate and then drill the hole.

Regards, Roland

[5monkeys]

FWIW I just noticed that Ruddercraft also does rudder repair work:

https://ruddercraft.com/rudder-repair-worksheet/

[bruce]

I thought the same thing Roland.

Rick, what's broken off? Is it just the little triangular bit at the top or is it the whole rectangular section completing the top and trailing edge. Those edges look very clean and straight, like they were shaped that way. I assume it's the later, the rudder looks like it needs all the surface area it can get.

For comparison, Roland posted the dimensions that Ruddercraft provided him for their replacement SC blade.

"Our blade is designed to fit into your existing head.
The blade is a little different is size as ours has a hydrofoil shape and is sized accordingly.
The blade is 25.25 long, 1.5 inches wide and has a cord of 11.75 inches.
The plate (which attaches to your head) is 11.75 inches high and made from 3/8 alum.
This gives you an overall height of 37 inches.
The overall weight is about 18 to 20 lbs
The 3/8 alum plate is wrapped in a high density plastic (HDPE), which is shaped to provide the hydrofoil."

Did you have a chance to use the rudder before the damage? In general, I think most prefer long and skinny to short and wide (high aspect vs. low aspect).

[Cpy23ecl]

For some reason the photo displays shortened vertically.  If you copy the image into an image viewer such as irfanview it looks like a normal length rudder

[bruce]

Thanks, Cpy23el, when I download the photo it opens properly. The scuppers are round, not eyebrow!

I did try to upload the photo I have displaying properly to this response, and it gets squashed again.

[Westhillrick]

Thanks for the responses.  First off, the photo is indeed distorted.  This was my first attempt to upload a photo.  Not sure what is causing that.

Bruce, the section broken off is indeed the top half of the trailing edge.  When I bought the boat there was a vertical crack in the rudder from the top edge, so I was not surprised by the break.  It broke off after the last sail of the season.  I can't say how performance will be affected, but it's not an insignificant portion of the blade.

Sounds like the best course of action is to contact Ruddercraft to inquire about a repair or replacement.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[Cpy23ecl]

Thanks, Cpy23el, when I download the photo it opens properly. The scuppers are round, not eyebrow!

I did try to upload the photo I have displaying properly to this response, and it gets squashed again.

Looking at the page source it has the image tag option set to a height of 480 with a width of 640.  It appears that for whatever reason it thinks the image is in landscape instead of portrait orientation.

[Westhillrick]

I contacted Ruddercraft.  They confirmed it?s not possible to effectively bond the piece back to the rudder blade.  They offered to replace the HDPE blade and attach it to the aluminum base plate, and will charge $100 less than a complete new rudder.  Just FYI for anyone else who might encounter the same problem.