| |
Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: rudder
Posted By: Vic Roy In Response To: Re: rudder (Mack)
Date: Tuesday, 7 June 2005, at 5:59 p.m.
Mack, gotta agree with you in spades. When I first became the Steward of AJ in the early 90's a lot of mechanical maintaince things had been neglected, and resulted in some trips in from offshore on one engine for one reason or antoher, like rusted out tubes on the hi pressure side of the ZF gears, rubbed and busted gear oil cooler hoses, etc. As I struggled to steer her on one engine (had the tiny B28 style rudders) it was obvious that bigger rudders were needed. As I worked thru the maintaince issues, isloated and fixed them (a few bucks spent on heater hose to use as chafing guards on hoses, battery cables, etc) and Corrosion X on the gears, steering, engines, electrical, and so on, Patrick came out with his rudders. I snapped up one of the first pairs, and the difference is simply amazing. I picked up about 5 kts on one engine due to less rudder deflection, and you can turn the boat into the dead engine with ease at any speed. An absolutely essential upgrade for any B31.
And as Mack points out, the workmanship is flawless. Patrick & me have a bone to pick with each other on the final finish on the stainless blades, he ships them with about an 80 grit rough surface to hold paint, but I polished mine out to about 600 and they shine like mirrors. AJ lives in fresh water 90% of the time, so they stay shiny.
Could it be why AJ wins the UVI every year - the shiny rudders?
Uv
| |
Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board is maintained by Patrick McCrary with WebBBS 5.12.