Repair to E43 Rudder
Date: January 27, 2000 Am in the process of repairing badly damaged 1979 E43. There is probably as much as two feet torn off of the rudder. Although I could guess about how long it was and the shape, I am hopeing someone might have a diagram of the missing part or perhaps a good photo. Trying to locate the close cell foam that the core seems to be made of. Have serched for manuals and any doccuments on this craft with very little sucess. Appreciate any input. Date: May 1, 2000 Just in case I had not replied earlier....and forgot. Thanks a bunch for the rudder drawings. Cut a chunk out of a stryofoam sea bouy and grafted it onto the rudder bottom. In the process of shapeing it and glassing it into place. Can cancel this query on rudder drawing now. Again, Thanks. Date: January 7, 2002 The SeaLife Endeavour 43 hit a sandbar. A few breakers rolling in lifted her up and smashed her on the rudder. The hinge that holds the rudder shaft to the aft end of the hull or keel broke out with pieces of fiber glass. It consists of two parallel stell plates that are bolted 4 times to the rudder and 5 times to the keel, where it broke off. The end that is attached to the hull is only about 5 inches long and attached to a ruther thin part of the fiberglass. The steel plates or arms should be longer to hold up better when pounding on the rudder. The rudder moved up and hit the hull above it, which damaged the top edge of the rudder. The rudder is stuck there 20 degrees turned to starboard, which made towing a real challenge. (Tying a boat alongside proved best). The bottom end of the rudder shaft has moved aft about 3 inches. I would love to be able to jury-rig this and make it to the next boat yard 10 miles away. Anybody with advice about this kind of repair? Date: January 7, 2002 Wolfgang, Date: March 6, 2003 We are getting ready to install a hydraulic autopilot for our E 43 and need to find out the dimensions of our rudder. Given we live in the chilly water of the Pacific Northwest we're not too excited about getting in the water. If you could send an email out asking if anyone has the dimensions it would be great. Thanks! Date: March 6, 2003 These pictures were taken after a recent rudder repair. Perhaps they help you estimating the size. Date: March 6, 2003 Sara
From: George "Buzz" Segura LAMTANNA@aol.com
From: George "Buzz" Segura LAMTANNA@aol.com
From: Wolfgang Harms Wolfgang@pioneer-research.com
The rudder will not move, I cannot get the hinge plates back in place unless I unscrew them underwater, but they are bonded to fiberglass and probably hard to get off. The bolts have flat heads.
From: Wayne JANWAYNE@aol.com
Possibly attaching a deflector(makeshift trim tab) made of plywood for instance to the other side of the rudder to compensate for the 20 degrees of the bent rudder would allow you to be towed with much less problems to the boat yard.
From: Sara Skinner s_skinner@hadw.com
From: Wolfgang Harms Wolfgang@pioneer-research.com
From: Craig Weirich cweirich@starcutter.com
I have an E-43 located in Muskegon, Michigan. Since is out of the water for the winter I was able to measure my rudder this past weekend. The rudder measures 58 inches high, 29 inches wide, and 4 inches thick at the leading edge. Hope this helps and good sailing.