billskip
Well-known member
I think in an earlier post the OP says he has the drawings.
Should I cut my skeg? I've tried everything else...
- Thread starter demonboy
- Start date
CrossedThreads
Member
Lots of really good points made. As soon as you’ve got the saw out you are into rebuilding the skeg which will forever creep into your mind as you’re beating into the roughest seas or running from a squall!
I have no idea if this is possible however if it is… I’d try opposing steel wedges m. One driven in from each side. Once they are in you can administer your choice of heat/cold (don’t be shy with either) and hopefully drive the wedges (think sledgehammer) a little at a time as you heat/cool.
I am pretty sure epoxy will start to “go” before the bronze will.
Edit to add. Might be worth “attacking” the sacrificial(?) hardwood block to gain you a little wiggle room. It’s one less point of resistance. You could easily remake this once you’re reassembling.
I have no idea if this is possible however if it is… I’d try opposing steel wedges m. One driven in from each side. Once they are in you can administer your choice of heat/cold (don’t be shy with either) and hopefully drive the wedges (think sledgehammer) a little at a time as you heat/cool.
I am pretty sure epoxy will start to “go” before the bronze will.
Edit to add. Might be worth “attacking” the sacrificial(?) hardwood block to gain you a little wiggle room. It’s one less point of resistance. You could easily remake this once you’re reassembling.
demonboy
Active member
My apologies, I stopped getting updates for this thread and one been busy tackling this. One thing I have done is shave (chisel) away a section from each side of the skeg, just above the join.
We were hoping this would give us better access to the gap between the bronze and the fin of the skeg to slot a hacksaw blade.
We've managed to gouge a slot only a few mm deep and realise we're probably not getting enough heat, as a couple of people have previously mentioned. We'll be using blow torches today.
We were hoping this would give us better access to the gap between the bronze and the fin of the skeg to slot a hacksaw blade.
We've managed to gouge a slot only a few mm deep and realise we're probably not getting enough heat, as a couple of people have previously mentioned. We'll be using blow torches today.
demonboy
Active member
Originally, Oyster. And then us when we refitted 12 years ago. Funnily enough, I've been speaking to another Oyster 435 owner who did his own refit and had exactly the same problem. He said it was an absolute **** of a job, as we're finding out. When we eventually put it all together, we will NOT be using epoxy!
demonboy
Active member
This will have to be removed when we eventually remove the bronze from the rudder, but taking it off now doesn't help. There's a gap between it and the bronze, no pintle.
Yara
Member
Why not share the design drawing with us?
demonboy
Active member
Sure. See attached.
Yara
Member
Have you knocked out the spacer under the lower pintle? (Apologies if this was mentioned prior, but I cant see a pic with it removed.)
Drawing says 5 off screws, I can only see 3 removed?
Drawing says 5 off screws, I can only see 3 removed?
Last edited:
demonboy
Active member
A couple of people said we weren't getting the bronze hot enough...
(Notice the missing spacer in the rudder, for those who asked)
By the time the visible epoxy glue was bubbling, we inserted our special steel V plate into the gap and gave it a few hard whacks. The good news is we were able to shift the casting around 10mm, revealing shiny stainless in the stock that hasn't seen daylight for 12 years...
You'd think that was the hard bit done. With a tapered fin the casting should now just slide off. However the fin is damaged so the fibre is matting up in clumps and shreds...
Running a hacksaw into the gap is pulling up shreds and dust.
I guess we start again tomorrow and continue as we're doing.
(Notice the missing spacer in the rudder, for those who asked)
By the time the visible epoxy glue was bubbling, we inserted our special steel V plate into the gap and gave it a few hard whacks. The good news is we were able to shift the casting around 10mm, revealing shiny stainless in the stock that hasn't seen daylight for 12 years...
You'd think that was the hard bit done. With a tapered fin the casting should now just slide off. However the fin is damaged so the fibre is matting up in clumps and shreds...
Running a hacksaw into the gap is pulling up shreds and dust.
I guess we start again tomorrow and continue as we're doing.
dankilb
Well-known member
Cool blowtorch!
demonboy
Active member
UPDATE
The blow torch did the trick. Thanks to everyone who replied, and especially to those who said we needed to get hotter.
Inside the casting we can see where the epoxy glue bonded onto the painted surface of the fibreglass, which is what was causing the problems.
OK, let the bronze cool off and then we can start looking at the pintle, which I thought we'd be doing four weeks ago
The blow torch did the trick. Thanks to everyone who replied, and especially to those who said we needed to get hotter.
Inside the casting we can see where the epoxy glue bonded onto the painted surface of the fibreglass, which is what was causing the problems.
OK, let the bronze cool off and then we can start looking at the pintle, which I thought we'd be doing four weeks ago
billskip
Well-known member
Well done....
Aja
Well-known member
A proper engineering solution.UPDATE
View attachment 163929
View attachment 163930
The blow torch did the trick. Thanks to everyone who replied, and especially to those who said we needed to get hotter.
Inside the casting we can see where the epoxy glue bonded onto the painted surface of the fibreglass, which is what was causing the problems.
OK, let the bronze cool off and then we can start looking at the pintle, which I thought we'd be doing four weeks ago
