Rudder rebuild?

[Ambition]

Chris,
When I bought Ambition (a 2002 H46) in 2014 we discovered major blistering of the rudder. At the time of the pre-purchase survey everyone convinced me that it was a fairly simple repair job. We found out ultimately that that was an incorrect assumption. Your boat and ours was built in era where the construction of the  rudder used open cell foam. Some time after 2002 Queen Long like many yacht manufacturers migrated to using closed cell foam for the ruder core. All rudders over time will have water seep inside. In the case of open cell foam, it allowed the salt water to permeate the foam where in an environment of minimal oxygen, the stainless steel supporting structure to the foam that is welded to the rudder post was attacked and the the SS disintegrated.
I purchased a new rudder from Queen Long in late 2014 for a very reasonable price and the shipping to the US east coast was not to painful.

Merrill
S/V Ambition H46 #40

[Caregg]

Back around 2016 I had a similar problem with my rudder leaking water on haul out.  I think it hit a submerged rock while tied to a mooring in Maine.  I got quotes from a guy in Annapolis split it apart and rebuild it.  For about the same money I bought a new one from Queen Long (including freight) and upgraded to all 316L.  My installer routed out around the shaft where it comes out of the rudder and put in some form of sealant.  It fit perfectly.  At the same time we discovered the upper rudder support had broken loose.  That was rebuilt with a stronger installation.  No problems since.

[stgermain45]

We dropped our rudder several years back due to it leaking at the rudder post between the FRP tube and bronze tube (3M 5200 decayed over time). We didn't rebuild the actual rudder, so no experience in that area. But as for removal tips, I posted the pics I got from QL in this post:
http://hylasyachts.org/index.php?topic=1212.0

Before getting that info from QL it was pretty difficult to navigate dropping the rudder, particularly since we had no idea there were two tiny set screws (step 6 in the photos) we couldn't see. We ended up cutting an access hole at the center head of the bed mattress area. It does make access easier, but hindsight knowing those screws exist you probably don't need to. Step 9 did not apply to our H46 - we did not have a removable FRP block under the bronze shoe.

Hopefully those instructions/photos will help. I have tons of photos of our rudder removal and can pass them over to you if it's helpful.

Chris
S/V Beleza - H46 #44

[mi.dreaming]

Beleza did it! We'll email you stuff later Chris!

[Sailingalice]

Hi Chris

I found this when researching rudder works when we did our big refit.

http://boatprojects.blogspot.com/2011/07/rudder-rebuild.html?m=1

I hope this helps

Blake

[SeaGlub]

So the last time I hauled out SeaGlub we drilled the bottom of the rudder  (lots of blisters with water in them) and watched water basically pour out the bottom of the rudder. Three days later and 3-4 more holes drilled, water was still dripping out. I wasn't somewhere where I wanted to tear apart the rudder so we patched it up and splashed. But now I've got an excellent fibreglass shop near me and I've got rudder blue prints from Queen Long and I'm looking to repair the rudder. Questions:

- has anyone dropped the rudder on a 46'? Advice, things to watch for when dropping the rudder? And advice for replacing the rudder...

- has anyone rebuilt one of these rudders?

- the blue prints are pretty detailed but they do not say what the fill is between the structural pieces, any ideas what the fill is so I can know before we tear it open?

Thanks much, looking to do this work in August.
Chris
Fiji