R22 Discussion Group

Hi Roger,

Hi Peter & Todd,

I've looked at the 2 drawings supplied by Todd.  Even with the "new" design, I think you would still need the 2 circular teflon spacers in between the rudder head and rudder blade.  Without them, you will have to tighten the pivot bolt so tight to eliminate the side-to-side play; that, the rudder blade won't kick-up with any reasonable force.  This will be especially true if the rudder head is made of wood.  In a wet environment, wood is not rigid enough or dimensionally stable enough to be a successful material in this application.  With repeated sanding and varnishing, the thickness of the shims may have to adjusted each time to get the right clearance.

I forgot to mention, every time I disassemble my rudder blade for bottom painting, I apply a coat of lithium waterproof grease to the pivot bolt.  I also drilled out the pivot bolt hole in the rudder blade to 1" ID.  I filled the hole with West System epoxy thickened to a putty-like consistency with a mixture of West System 423 Graphite Powder and 404 High-Density Filler.  You mix the resin and slow hardener.  Then, paint a thin coat of the unthickened epoxy onto the ID of the hole.  With the rest of the epoxy, add 5%wt of the graphite powder, and mix well.  Then, add about 20%wt of the high density filler, and mix well.  The exact amount of high density filler required will depend on the ambient temperature.  The warmer it is, the more filler will be required.  Just keep adding filler until a putty-like consistency is achieved.  Then, press the epoxy mixture into the hole and make sure all the void spaces are filled.  The unthickened epoxy will have soaked into the ID walls of the hole; but, it will not have cured.  Intimate contact with the uncured epoxy on the ID walls will cause the thickened epoxy putty to become securely bonded in the hole.  Let the epoxy cure overnight and then sand the two rudder blade surfaces smooth.  Using a WC tipped bit, drill a hole thru the epoxy where the old hole used to be.  You want the hole to be a snug clearance fit with the pivot bolt.  I actually had a selection of SS pivot bolts and hand selected the best fit.  You will need to use WC tipped tools because the filled epoxy is so hard it will quickly wear out normal tool steel.  With a coat of waterproof grease on the bolt, the rudder pivot is now a precision bearing.

This design really needs a sealed roller bearing press fit into the rudder blade and with the teflon spacers to handle the side-to-side loads.  But, it's not a high speed machine with rapid cyclic loads and it's water cooled.  So, the thermal loads can be handled by a simple greased bushing.  My rudder blade pivots as smooth as butter with no side-to-side play!  Other than the occasional greasing, this upgrade has been working perfectly with no issues since 1990.

Yes, I know I'm out of control!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
1978  Sanford, MI

Rudder Styles.JPG

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ROGER PIHLAJA

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