Tag Archives: alert anodising

Rudder Rebuild: The Shaft Part I

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As you might recall, we lost a rudder while at sea crossing from Minerva Reef to Tonga – it was an utter rudder disaster.  We managed ok for over 1,000nm with just one rudder before we were able to get our hands on a temproary rudder which we then had custom fit to our boat.

But it is time to replace both rudders now that we are in New Zealand and the boat is hauled out.  We researched many different options including having Jefa Rudders custom design them from the UK; a boat builder in Auckland, NZ;  Foss Boatbuilders in Los Angeles; and considered having Norsand Boatyard do the work. There were pros and cons with each company, so we decided to hire local professionals that we had first hand knowledge of their expertise and skills.  They had already worked on our boat and had years of glassing experience.

The Rudder Shaft

The first thing we have to do is design and build the rudder shafts (or posts).  Technically, both of our rudder shafts are “in tact” but the tines or fingers on the port shaft are damaged.  At the top of the shaft you will see a ring and one tine sticking out.  This is the front of tine and there is supposed to be a back.  The middle tine is broken half way in the front and has no back portion and the bottom tine is completely gone.

Damaged Rudder Shaft with broken tines

Damaged Rudder Shaft with broken tines

We engaged our friend Rob at RH Precision while we were still in Tonga.  We love Rob!  He has done several stainless projects for us and is just a gem to work with!  He has all of the fun tools and machines for welding stainless and aluminum.  Matt finds the dimensions and all of the measurements to our existing rudder shafts (thanx to the Catana Mailing Group and several other Catana owners who shared their specifications).  

We triple check all of the measurements with our existing rudder shafts (both the damaged one and the one that is still in tact).  And then we double check them again.  Matt specifically orders 6082 aluminum (from High Grade Metals in NZ) which is stronger than our original lighter aluminum.  Rob works his magic and expertly replicates our rudder shafts as per the diagram.

Bigger is Better

Rob then drills the holes. There are 4 holes near the top which is how we connect the post to the boat and 4 holes for the tines.  We decided to go with 16mm tines which are bigger and stronger than our current 14mm tines.

I assumed Rob would be able to do the tines as well, but I was wrong.  We had to get the rods for the tines…hmmm.  Rob sends us to Vulcan Ullrich Aluminium in Whangarei where we are able to purchase a 5m of 16mm rod.  We have them cut it into (8) 280mm pieces and we take the almost 4m of extra rod back to Rob as a gift.

The Final Steps

Rob pounds the 8 pieces into each hole for us and then we take it to Absolute Stainless to tack them in place so they wont move (tack weld).  Yep, this is a process.  It doesn’t take long to tack weld them as we were able to pick them up the next morning.  The next step is to have the rudder shafts anodized.  So, we drive them to Auckland (2.5hrs each way) to Alert Anodising where they will put 25 micron hard black to protect them.  We had wanted marine grade but evidently there was a mix up. Rob assured us it would be fine and that this was still very good.

10 days later we make the drive back to Auckland to pick up our newly anodized rudder posts.  

The shafts look so sexy!  I am not sure why I think they look sexy with the anodizing, but I do!  We laid the new shaft next to the old shaft and what a difference.  The new shafts are about 27cm longer and weigh almost 1 kilo more than the older shafts.  Compare the damaged shaft to the new one on the right photo.

Now we are ready for the blades.  Stay tuned for part II of the Rudder Rebuild.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured during November 2023.  

Life on the Hard: Boatyard Projects

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We haul out Sugar Shack at Norsand Boatyard to complete lots and lots of boat projects.  The plan was to be “on the hard” for 5-6 weeks but a lot of projects have to be done in sequential order and cannot be done simultaneously.  We started booking contractors and work back in May to ensure that we could get all of the work done and be back in the water before Christmas.  Several blog posts will come out about this journey.

Last season in New Zealand we were able to complete a lot of upgrades, maintenance jobs, repairs, and a few miscellaneous projects.  We were tied to the dock at Town Basin Marina for almost 8 months where we upgraded to lithium batteries, repaired our salon window seals, replaced our main sail and genoa, replaced our dinghy and dinghy chaps, had a new cockpit enclosure made, new interior and exterior fabric for our cushions, new ceiling panels, new LED light fixtures, and new stainless counter tops and sink.  It was a lot!  (to read more about these upgrades, search our website for the specific blog post or click on the above links.

Hauling out

Hauling out and splashing always makes my heart race.  So many things can go wrong and yet we’ve been blessed with excellent workers at each yard.  We had a late haul out because we had to wait for high tide which was 4:00pm on our scheduled date.  We arrived and found the dock empty (which evidently was not normal).  The slipway manager was busy swapping trailers and we came in a smidge early so lucky for us another cruiser met us at the jetty to grab our lines. (top photo).  I was afraid I’d have to prove my non-existent Texas skills by lassoing the pilon.

Norsand Jetty

Norsand Jetty

Kevin, the slipway manager and Shane arrive and slowly walk Sugar Shack down the slip toward the ramp.  Another two workers showed up to toss us lines for the starboard side.  Once secured, Kevin rows a dinghy out to measure the exact placement of the trailer.

They use a large tractor to push the trailer into the water.  It has to be lined up right down the center of the boat.

They expertly manuever the trailer under our boat, without incident.  Once the trailer is in place, Kevin rows his boat out again to use the trailer’s controllers to set the supports on our bulk heads (the strongest part of the boat).  It is a slow, tediuous process, but we don’t rush them.   Slow is pro!

Coming Out of the Water

Once the boat is secured onto the trailer she is slowly pulled out of the water.  

Kevin and Shane blocked us on the trailer for the night right at the top of the slipway and smack dab in the middle of the yard.  Hello Norsand, Sugar Shack has arrived!

The Projects Begin Before We Are Even Blocked

The following projects are started early the next morning, before we are moved to our parking spot.

  • Removed both rudders (the original starboard rudder and the temproary rudder)
  • Removed both props
  • Removed both saildrives (this is done by Whangarei Marine as they will service them)
  • Evaluated our vinyl/stickers with Vital Signs and he shows us how to remove them

We are moved and blocked later that afternoon.  Not sure how he is able to squeeze us in between these other two boats, but he does with no problems.

Thank Goodness We Are Not This Wide

There was a trimaran that had been in the yard for 25 months!  She had a lot of work done and was finally going back in the water.  The problem was she is too wide to go down the slipway so they have to brining  a 90-ton crane to lift her up and over into the water.  

It was remarkably fast and effecient.  The yard did a tremendous job and truly was due to the expertise of the slipway team with Kevin at the lead.  The crane arrived around 8:30am and was done by 11:30am!

Boat Yard Projects:

We have scheduled a lot of boat projects with the yard, including:

  1. Haul out / Splash
  2. Waterblast
  3. Copper coat bottom (sanding down bottom paint, applying primer & copper coat)
  4. Re-Seal the deck and hull joint around the entire boat
    • In the end, we also resealed the starboard large hatch, both helm seats & stations, both davits, the bimini.
    • We also resealed / caulked the new ceiling panels in all 3 cabins, master bath. Caulked the salon around the new counter tops & around the nav station.
  5. Gelcoat repairs
    • Below the waterline: repaired small osmosis areas, small cracks, dagger boards, and sail drive casings
    • Above the waterline: both hulls had previous repairs that no longer matched the surrounding gelcoat so we blended them better; 2 small areas at starboard bow
    • Sugar scoops: both sugar scoops around cleats, steps, and by waterline
    • Deck: Port bow filled holes from old cleat, cockpit, filled crack on hatch, both entries at sugar scoop filled holes from old barrier (water stop barriers)
    • Inside: a few of our bulk heads had small hairline cracks that we reinforced and re-glassed
  6. Wash, wax, polish
  7. Prop-speed on the props

Outside Contractor Projects: Outside of the boatyard staff:

  1. Canvas: Kim is coming back to give us phifertex side panels for the cockpit enclosure and new phifertex and sauleda window covers for the salon.
  2. Whangarei Marine removed our props and saildrives.  We are replacing the bellows, clamp rings, o-rings, and seals on both saildrives.  Huge . They also sleeved, turned, polished the wear marks on the saildrive shafts and lapped the starboard cone.  An big and expensive job.
  3. Vital Signs is replacing all of our vinyl graphics, stickers, logos on the boat.  
  4. Aakron Express is repairing our EVA/non-skid which came up on the interior floor of our dinghy
  5. RH PRecision is making our new rudder shafts, then we will take them to Alert Anodising to anodise them.
  6. New custom fit rudders are being built.
  7. Denray Marine will service our liferaft and 4 of our PFDs
  8. Nautilus Braids will provide us with new main sheets, spin halyard, reefing line, Oh $hit line (hand hold off bimini), and a roll of dynema
  9. Cleigh Ltd, Matthew Duckett will install a new 220v inverter/charger.

Matt and Christine’s Projects

  1. Remove all vinyl stickers, logos and adhesive (5+ days)
  2. Replace anchor chain markers indicating length (every 10m) and clean 100m of stainless chain (3-5 days_
  3. Install heater port heater
  4. Install 12v Inverter/charger, Matt assisted with wires, breaker, installation
  5. Varnish hand rails along cabin top, flag pole, hand holds in cockpit, helm seats, princess seats, flag pole, bimini rails (all 4 sides), princess seats, and wench handle holder
  6. Clean and polish all interior wood
  7. Polish all stainless
  8. Replace window screens
  9. Repair utensil drawer 
  10. Repair wood along aft bimini (wood glue)
  11. Repair, paint, seal starboard head ceiling (5 panels have chipped paint on fiberglass)
  12. Repair 3 steps on both both sugar scoops (teak work)
  13. Sewing projects (probably won’t get to): new fender covers, new cockpit table cover, new cockpit pockets, new recycle bags, new man over board cover, new outboard cover

As you can see we are doing a LOT of work.  And it is putting my project management skills to the test!  We are hoping to get all of this done within 5 weeks!

Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts on building new rudders, coppercoat (bottom job), vinyl stickers, gel coat repairs, and canvas work.

The cover photo is Sugar Shack after removing her stickers and her bottom paint.  That is our NZ car that we bought last season and are tooling around this season (BMW 330i with 20k miles that we bought for $3850!)  What a deal!  We will sold it for the same price after we splashed back into the water.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog happened the 2nd week of November 2023.  Did you catch our Christmas in Whangarei blog where I bake over 800 cookies and ring the bell until it upset the Mayor?