Aquarius Sail Owners

So I had decided to reinforce the transoms on my SC-20, as they were both looking a little weak with some stress cracks. One transom had been replaced once already, the other was original. I ended up grinding out the old sealant around most of the older transom, and filling it with epoxy-glass. Seemed to work fine. I then laid up some unidirectional carbon fiber tape across both transoms with epoxy, vertically and horizontally along the axes of the gudgeon bolt holes. Also, went fine, seemed to stiffen up the transoms a well.

Alas, the problem, the transom that had been replaced, the repairer had epoxied a couple nuts on the inside of the transom rather than a plate with machined blot holes. And while working on that transom, 2 of the 4 nuts fell off. Now I was trying to complete this job without cutting through the hull, and I am wondering if anyone had any ideas how to deal with this?

I was contemplating mixing up some epoxy-silicon and permanently mounting the bolts and gudgeons on the transom. I have been using the west system stuff and with the silicon additive, this stuff bonds excellent, and is strong. Before painting, I would epoxy attach the gudgeon to the carbon fiber directly, as well as epoxying the bolts into the holes. Then I would paint after the gudgeons are mounted.

Am I asking to lose the rudder this way? I was thinking about a small wall anchor perhaps as an alternative, but without drilling out the bolt holes, that is probably not possible.

Any ideas? I really do not want to open up the hull. Be great if I had some kind of endoscope with flexibility to go in through the drain plug, but since I don't...

Thanks in advance.

george

Hey George,

I am not entirely sure I understand what you want to do, but I think I do. If the fallen nuts are on the bottom gudgeon I would not do what you pan to do. One hit on a hard object and the gudgeon is liable to pop off.

On the other hand if it is on the top, I think there would be a higher chance that it might stay on.

Having said that cutting a hole in the bottom or top is still what I would do. It is not hard to repair the hole cut and all the work could be done in one day. You could do the work without air tools.

I would put another aluminum backing plate instead of nuts there, this will distribute the load over a larger surface. Tiny nuts don't have enough surface area. You don't want to have your rudder rip off and the hull start to fill with water.

I think it would be faster and stronger to repair it the way I suggest, and did myself. Review my pictures if needed.

Good luck,

Kevin