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I have just ordered a replacement rudder....est $1700 and change, including $150 or so for shipping via common carrier. (Could be more, no quote up front available.)

I tried to get it on a boat coming this way, and had the consent of a local dealer, but Catalina parts is not helpful in that respect, demanding personal consent from said dealer, and not having any information on shipping date of said boat, and not being able to send me in the right direction....seems like too much trouble for them. With the price of gas the 200+ mile round trip in the Suburban to the dealer decreases the advantage anyway.

Reason I'm replacing it is because PO bent it, most likely during grounding. Even though the boat sails OK, it dripped out the bottom for days during last haulout. So, it is safe to say there's water in it. Even though I don't expose the boat to sub freezing temperatures, I know the seal at the top of the blade around the shaft is probably compromised, and there is most likely corrosion going on in there.

In addition there is a slight crack in the rudder tube, and the Mark-1 play at the non existing bottom bearing, so the whole area needs a once over.

You are not the first one reporting the pitting, and, same was suspected in the only loss of rudder I'm aware of. Also an older boat, broke of right where blade and shaft meet.....one day out of Hawaii if I recall correctly.

So, I see the writing on the wall, and as I venture a hundred+ or so off shore, solo, twice a year, I figured it was time.

Feel free to e-mail me, oscar*at*noln.com, (replace *at* with @) and I'll keep you posted on the DIY removal and relacement, sometime next month.

Finally, I know Catalina has modified the rudder in later models. I'm not sure what the modification consists of, and I'm not sure whether changes, if any, have been made to the design of replacement rudders for older boats. I know there's a few people on this forum that can answer that question.

Oscar,
C-42 #76 Lady Kay
Chesapeake/Fort Lauderdale

The new rudder is in.....phew!

Dug a hole almost three feet under the rudder and lowered it using a large ratchet strap....(see your local farm or trucking supply).

It was time. There were now multiple holes in the side of the old rudder weeping rusty water, and when I put the old and the new together I could see how bent the shaft really was.... (PO grounded out.)

HINT! Clean off all burrs around the holes for the roller pin at the top, or it will booger up the upper bearing on the way down and you will spend an extra hour with a piece of emery cloth smoothing it back out....

I successfully repaired the cracked knee on the rudder tube. Ground it down some, (dremmel tool with sanding drum), then built up three layers of glass matt and three more brushed on layers of West epoxy with 404. It looks much better now.

I measured of the old rudder, the tube, up, down, and sideways and drilled the holes in the new tube....(it comes without holes...)

HINT! Mount the quadrant after drilling the first hole for the through bolt to locate the exit hole.....

Then me and a buddy lifted the new rudder into the hole, on the strap and worked it up into the tube.....

HINT! Don't forget the flange for the stuffing box!!!!

I still don't know how this can be, but the top holes for the roller pin ended up 1/8" shy, and the rollers would not fit on the pin....

Now you can't drill a 1/2" hole 1/8" up from an existing 1/2" hole so I ended up drilling holes in situ, 90 degrees offset from the first pair. I don't think it will make any functional difference. In order to drill these holes I had to add two access holes in the fiberglass pan that the upper bearing is mounted in.

In retrospect I would drill the holes in situ, and use a bit long enough to go through the entire tube, accessing through the existing hole in the pan....

I then performed the "artificial lower bearing replacement surgery" Three holes, on the outside in the protruding part of the rudder tube, six syringes total. That worked out pretty good.....There is no play in the rudder (I had a lot, at least an inch at the bottom of the blade, and the klunking was very noticeable in following seas) so that should be a great improvement. I hope it holds up.

So, I feel much better now and I'm glad I did it. The old rudder looked like a failure might very well have happened....not something I want to experience 100 miles off shore by myself next month......

Just another two BU's....

Captain Oscar, USCG/OUPV
C-42 #76 Lady Kay 3C/WK
Chesapeake/Fort Lauderdale