Rudder Post on Westerly Centaur

[PeterHolt7]

I am in process of dealing with the osmosis problem on my Westerly Centaur. Having had the gelcoat removed a year ago I am now ready to replace this with epoxy resin. Prior to coating with the epoxy I propose to sheath the hull below the waterline with biaxial fabric. The rudder has been removed but I need to reinforce/repair the hull around the lower rudder bearing where the gelcoat has started to disintegrate. There is a metal plate that holds the rudder bush and joins the tube that the rudder rotates in (I have referred to this, rightly or wrongly, as the rudder post). I need to remove this plate to repair the hull underneath it. Can anyone advise me as to how this should be done? I have removed the bolts at the lower end as well as the bush but if I turn the plate the whole tube rotates.
Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Peter,

I'm not familiar with the Westerly Centaur, but it sounds like you should remove the tube from below, you say it rotates, what is stopping it from dropping out?

If you have any sign of the pox in this area and gel coat falling off is a good enough indication to warrant further investigation, I would be keen to remove the tube to ensure the interface between glass and steel was made new again.

Most of the 'Extra' material in the lay-up to provide more strength in normally added to the inside of the hull in this area to preserve the external lines.

Don't suppose you have a picture you can post.

Good luck

Avagoodweekend......

 

[VicS]

If you have not already done so try asking the question on the Westerly owners association forum And the more active Yahoo discussion group. Follow the link from The website Both are available to non members.

 

[Bilgediver]

What you refer to as a plate is actually a contoured flange on the bottom of the tube which takes the rudder post.

The whole tube complete with the flange comes off but you might have to loosen the top fitting in the cockpit which may have becom stuck to it. I don t believe the tube is threaded into the upper fitting but is just a sleeve fit. This can be confirmed on the Westerly site.

The tube should turn when you move the flange and if you pull downwards on the flange then the tube should come too.

You do of course remove the rudder first /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif