ballerina ii

[125]

Anyone out there know of any owners clubs or the like for the Robert Tucker designed "Ballerina II"
I have restored one recently but am finding her quite heavy on the tiller (i think due to the huge rudder for her size) and am wondering if anyone else who owns, owned or worked on one has any fixes for the problem.

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[ex-Gladys]

Sailed one as a kid. When a slabside like that digs in the water, weather helm results...

They all do that sir...

<hr width=100% size=1>Larry Botheras

Anderson 26 "Amber"

 

[Julian]

Yes I restored one a number of years ago (Penryna sail No 24). You are right the rudder is a nightmare. First of all I tried cutting down the blade a bit but it made little difference. In the end I modified the whole thing and made a spade rudder. I salvaged an old 2inch stainless prop shaft and cut it down. I modified the lazarette locker hatch so that it was set further back then reinforced the deck in front of it by laminating up ply. I then set a 2 inch ID bronze flat faced skinfitting in the centre carefully sanded out so that prop shaft was a snug but smooth fit. I then heated up a second bronze flat-faced skin fitting with its threads ground off and put it on the top of the prop shaft upside down to form a bearing against the other skin fitting. I drilled an angled hole through the transom and using a nylon fishing rod holder and a wedge of wood to take up the angle differences made up the second bearing. (initially I had used a chromed brass rod holder and cast an epoxy bearing, but this soon went soft so I modified it with the nylon one with a fairly loose fit).
The spade rudder was made by laminating up ply and shaping it like a wing profile with about 20% infront of the pivot point. Before actually glueing I dirlled a 2inch hole from top to bottom then split it again. I also cut it along the pivot point to form two pieces to go each side of the prop shaft. I then bent up a piece of threaded rod into a U and cut out a U shape in the centre piece of plywood. The idea was to make it so that the aft rudder blade could be bolted through the prop shaft. I drilled two holes in the forward rudder section and through the prop shaft. It was all bolted together and the bolts covered by wooden plugs.

I salvaged a new shorter tiller and lifting bracket from a skip.

The result was amazing.... it steered brilliantly after that... it should have been built that way in the first place.

This all sounds complicated but it is worth it. If you send me a message with a fax number I can fax you a drawing. Also remember that none of the early Balerinas were the same , so your boat could need a differnt solution.

Initially I wanted to keep it original, but in the end I decided it was better to make it easier to sail.

Best regards,

Julian

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