Rudder Designs

Dear John,

You can see the rudder dimensions and details on the linesplan which appears on the Photos and Articles page of this website. I have an original copy of this linesplan (about 3ft x 2ft in size) and could send you a better image of the part with the rudder. The sections of the rudder are not shown on the plan, but maybe we could measure them on an actual rudder. Mine is about to be launched in the next couple of weeks, so you need to respond quickly.

John Baldock

P.S. I see you are in Devon and I am in Cornwall, so you could come and study the rudder.

Dear John and John

I too have an Eygthene 24 which had a rudder problem when in late 2005 I bought a partly finished boat which had never been in the water until I completed and launched it 3 weeks ago. It is a bilge keeler and now is moored in the Exe at Topsham. The problem was the rudderstock was a plain rod with no sign that it had ever been near any bearings and if the tiller had been removed accidentally, it would have gone straight to the bottom. Trouts, a Topsham boatyard, had a new stock and bearings made up locally and it is absolutely fine. My history with the Eygthene is simply that about 20 years ago I used to race on a Trapper 300 owned by Robin Collins against an Eygthene, Cardinal Puff 11, in Falmouth. I have had a brief sail in mine, "Peanuts", which showed that it is going to be a lovely little boat but that it would lose its mast unless I had intermediate stays fitted (it has twin spreaders); that is now being done.

If you would like to see how to spend twice as much fitting out an Eygthene as it would fetch if I sold it, please come and see Peanuts! My email is gerald@sturtridge.com and my mobile 07885 307295.

I am in the phone book.

Gerald Sturtridge

Hi all

I have had my rudder off a couple of times when were out in the winter, due to an annoying problem of it collecting water.
Its surprising how fast the rudder can "Drop" out of the bottom once the stock has been loosened.
I have overcome this by drilling and tapping a 5mm bolt directly down the top of the rudder shaft and have a 3mm thick round washer thats just over 27mm in diameter.
Then we counter bore the top of the rudder stock so that the washer sits flush when bolted down.
We have tried it out on dry land and with all the fastening bolts on the rudder stock completely undone the rudder stays firmly in the bottom.
Cheers
Ian.

Well I've taken a while to reply, but have got a new rudder built from a blueprint of the Eygthene the rudder section of which was scaled up by my father (retired Technical Draftsman), and the thingypit bearing was modified to ensure it was more secure! We got away to Cornwall in August and the rudder performed really well so relief all round. Thanks to all the helpful comments and especially John Baldock, who let me take measurements and gave lots of encouragement. If anyone finds themselves in the same position I can supply a copy of the full size drawing! Cheers John

Whitewind would it be possible for you to send me a copy of that rudder drawing?.......ray

Bill

When I made the new rudder stock I also knocked up a new tiller stock ,but for this to lay flat on the rudder stock I counter bore (let in by using a lathe or milling machine ) to make the over sized washer and machine screw flush with the top of the rudder stock .
Think of enlarging the 25mm hole through the stock from the top with a bigger drill of say 30mm to a depth of 5mm

Ian

Stephan,

As you now know, we have managed to get a scanned image of the rudder drawing from Wightwind and I can e-mail it to anyone who would like a copy. (I will need an e-mail address). I will also try to get Jon to put it on the Photos and Articles page of the website.

John