C23 rudder pintle issue : need to find replacement for pintel pins/bolts

[hockeyfool]

Hello guys,
we had storm winds of sustained 40-45mph for a whole day and i saw my top rudder "pin" pop out.
The rudder was hanging by the bottom only!
The fool I bought the boat from put a machine bolt and nut in it ; did'nt last in that storm.
WHAT DO IT REPLACE IT WITH ?
Please let me know your ideas on what would be proper .

[Bob23]

Hock:
   My 23 has no pins in either the upper or lower but instead I use stainless steel bolts long enough so that no thread is inside the rudder gugeon. Everything is greased in the spring and checked periodically. I'd check the bottom of the gugeon to make sure there are no cracks...that's a lot of stress on just one of the two ears of the gugeon to take. Instead of a locking nut, I use two nuts and lock 'em together. Also, just for fun, I intall nylon washers between the mating surfaces of the gugeon and the rudder head. Keeps wear to a minimum. btw, you can purchase a new gugeon from Hutchins for about 60 clams.
Bob23
(I'm using the term gugeon where you are calling pintles.)

[Salty19]

I use the exact same fastening technique as Bob does.  racebolts.com can provide hardened bolts of superior quality (at a superior price!).  I'm using 8mm on my 19 which is just a tad smaller than 5/16"  If I were to do it again I would use 5/16" as there is a little slop with 8mm (not much mind you). Problem I found is the hardened, superor grade bolts tend to come in metric, but admittedly I didn't exhaust google searches either.

[bob lamb]

What's the length on those bolts?  And do you suppose Home Depot or Lowe's would have them?

BobL

[Salty19]

I am hesitant to give measurements for the CP19 as the gudgeon is almost certainly different than your 23.  Also the boat is a ways from me for storage.

However the big box stores is NOT where you'll find high quality bolts.  Check Fastenal in your area. They are in most if not all major cities.

Measure the distance where the non-threaded portion of the bolt would pass through the gudgeon. You want the smooth portion of the bolt to be a little longer than this (if too long, put spacers on top/bottom to allow the nut to grab.  Then add at least 1/2" to the smooth length for the total length to give room for nuts and nylon spacers.

[Bob23]

I got my bolts from West Marine. The local one has a great supply of stainless and while I could shop on the 'net, in reality I didn't need that many bolts so it was better to buy local. Thier stainless seems to be of high quality and they have everything I've ever needed.
Bob23
(ps: If I had my choice, I'd go with silicone bronze bolts instead and avoid the galvanic corrosion issue that I must deal with. I sail in salt water.)

[curtisv]

I went with 316 stainless bolts, nuts, and washers from Defender and bought some 316 tubing from MSC Direct (a metal supplier that will do retail).  I think I had to buy four feet when I needed about 6 inches but it wasn't expensive.  I had to drill out the rudder stock to fit the sleeve but its great.  No play and very smooth.  I used big fender washers which interfered with raising the rudder but I took a corner off the front of the rudder and everything is fine now.  Here is a photo for what its worth (not much).



The photo above shows the new bolts with SS sleaves and the photo below is before this was installed with the sloppy fitting stock bolts and no sleeve, but included to show the horn cleat I added earlier that is slightly visible in the prior photo.

http://www.faster-light.net/remote-access/image/20040803-boat-work-03.jpg

This is before I trimmed the corner of the rudder.  From this photo you can't see how it interfered but knocking about 1/8 inch off the upper front corner of the aluminum part of the rudder got rid of the problem.  Smaller washers would have worked too, but I didn't have any on hand and I had a good sharp hacksaw blade handy.

My rudder stock could stand to be repainted.  I wonder if it could be anodized for a reasonable price.

Curtis

[Bob23]

  When I did my wood foiled rudder blade, part of the project was repainting the new gugeon and rudder head and the exposed top of the blade. After sanding to bare alluminum, I cleaned with Acetone, sprayed with zinc chromate and used Rustoleum hammer bronze spraypaint. Looks cooler than just black and has held up well for the first season.
  I thought using bronze bushings in the gugeon but they were already there!
Bob23