pintles and gudgeons

[bart]

I have a 50" rudder and I'm ready to install the hardware but don't know how the pintles should be spaced. Also, do I need to worry about a wave lifting the rudder out and losing it? Do you use any fastening device for security? I'd hate to lose it.

[L.W. Baxter]

bart, a shock cord could be used to hold your rudder in place. Also, you shouldn't really lose your rudder should it come out... it's made of wood, eh? Row back and get it? :D

The pintles and gudgeons should be set so that first on pintle enters, then an inch or so later, the second. This makes it easier to ship. Particularly on a dory with a raked transom like yours, this is very important. Hard to hang a rudder blind while draped over the stern, particularly if both pintles have to engage at the same time.

--Lee

[Ian McColgin]

A proper set of pintels and gudgeons will have one pintel a bit longer than the other. The suggestion of an inch is much longer than I've ever used but a 1/4" to 1/2" is nice. (Edited to add) If you can't get one pintel longer than the other, just have the upper unit arranged a little shy of getting fully housed. That will let the lower unit enter first. It will also put all the weight of the rudder on the lower unit. Probably this is no harm but if it's a problem, shim the upper pintel with some glued in washers.

I prefer that the long unit be the lower, usually just below the water, as that can be wiggle-felt into place and then the upper alligned with ease.

Whether the pintels go on the rudder, as is most common, or the transom is a matter of taste. The neatest way to get the underwater part of the rudder nice and close to the skeg and transom is to up the lower pintel facing up on the skeg. Have the lower gudgeon let flush with the foreward edge of the rudder and a bit of a hole leading up into the rudder to accomodate the pintel's end. You'll still need a little cut-away at the top which will look best if the upper pintel is mounted on the rudder down.

If the boat is light, I'd use a flat L shaped bit of bronze with one screw in the transom that can rotate such that the foot of the L covers the top of the upper gudgeon. This will keep the rudder inplace and can be easily rotated to ship the rudder. The gear in a light boat will easily take a grounding without damage though you may need to step out and lift the boat a little to free that L before shipping the rudder and hauling the boat to deeper water.

In my experience shock cord either lets the rudder come loose at speed on passing waves or is not really needed as the rudder is so heavy. Many rudders, by the way, are weighted. I still remember as a 12 year old diving for the old Knockabout's rudder.

So, however rigged, have a keeper line from rudder to transom.

G'luck

[ 02-27-2005, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: Ian McColgin ]

[JimD]

There is also a short strip of sprung steel that is commonly used to keep the rudder from popping out of place. Another forum member posted a foto of one in another thread some time ago. Also, the boat plans usually show approximately where the gudgeons/pintles should be placed.

[N. Scheuer]

I have fond memories of mt first sailing dinghy. It had been a derelict wihout a bottom a friend and I found on the Toughy Av Beach in Chicago one Spring about 1945.

Several years later my father helped rebuild it as a sailboat. Lots of "sailboat fittings" were made out of standard hardware store items, such as the gooseneck being a gate hinge.

The point here is that our "hold down" for a pine rudder that would float up off its gudgeons in a wave was an ordinary gate bolt which when fastened horizontally on the transom, would extend over the top pintle when in the "closed" position. Always used in fresh water, it never rusted much.

Moby Nick

[Bob Smalser]

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3075025/81689827.jpg

This one is set up so the lower pin is a tad longer and engages first....and the little L-shaped stop atop the higher pin pivots on a screw and swings aside to unship the rudder.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Originally posted by Ian McColgin:
If you can't get one pintel longer than the other, just have the upper unit arranged a little shy of getting fully housed. That will let the lower unit enter first. Or you could cut a quarter-inch off the top pintle.

Depending on the boat as well as the rudder, consider the use of three sets instead of two --

http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/public/al-rudder1.jpg

Here the middle pintle is engaged in its gudgeon first (above the water-line,) and then the top one. At that point the lowest one (and shortest of the three) is automatically aligned with its gudgeon, a flanged bronze spigot fitted in the skeg.

Mike

[Don Kurylko]

http://www.traditional-marine.com/1-100web.htm

See the bottom of page 70 of the on-line catalog for a photo of their "self locking gudgeons and pintles". These used to be made in the U.S. by Wilcox – Crittenden and were excellent for small traditional boats up to 20’ or so. Now made offshore and not as good quality, but still worthwhile.

Cheers,
Don.