Scott Dunsworth Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 How many of you make your own gudgeons? Well the ones I was going to need were about $165 for the set and I am to cheap :oops: for that. So I ordered some 6061 T6 aluminum from online metals and started making my own. I have them cut out and tomorrow I will have a fellow weld the rudder pieces together. With a little buffing and a few nylon bushings they'll be done. The transom part of the gudgeons are done and buffed. So if the welder is as good as he says he is, they will be as good looking as the $165 set for a total of about $40. When I get them completed I'll post a picture. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dunsworth Posted October 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Here are some pictures of the semi finished gudgeons. I still have to drill some of the mounting holes and polish them up. The nylon bushing in the picture is not the right size. I have to stop by lowes and get a couple along with four nylon washers. When installed there will be no metal against metal anywhere. The only concern I have, is these gudgeons will only alow the rudder to turn a little past 45 degrees from center. I can make them turn completely 90 degrees by rounding the corners of the rudder piece. Don't know if that is necessary though. Any thoughts? When I got done paying the welder the total investment is $55. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Jones Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Very nice Scot. Most boats have rudders that stop being effective at about 35 degrees or so. Past that the rudder starts to be a brake. On my tri I had stops set at 35 degrees so the rudder couldn't go past that. You should be totally fine with the 45 degrees, but don't put the rudder over that far or it'll slow you down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dunsworth Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Thanks Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nelson CS#35 Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Scott, The welding looks great! Looks like you know what you are doing. What kind of welder did you get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dunsworth Posted November 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2005 Joe we have an aluminum fabricator a few miles down the road. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Niemann Posted November 2, 2005 Report Share Posted November 2, 2005 Great job Scott. I wish I had thought of that before purchasing mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timnphx Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hello, I too awhile back was lookin for the Grudgeon and pin to fit my rudder and didn't want to pay $50 or $60 but was havin a hard time when looking at normal marine stores. I then found some to fit mine for $25 from Glen-L boats. Not sure if they were the size you needed but they have two sizes. They are stainess steel and can be found at this URL : http://shop.glenl.com/browse.cfm/4,257.htm Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Tim, we sell that same Racelite gudgeon and pintle set for $19.20 and we have two larger sizes but none of them big enough for Scott's rudder, he did the right thing to build his own. Charlie is right about rudder stops being set at 35 degrees but I disagree with him about not grinding off the corners. I am not concerned about Scott using too much helm, I am concerned about stressing the pintles. The distance from from the pin to the corner where it would hit the gudgeon is probably about 1 1/4" and his tiller is 48" long which would give him a leverage of 38. Imagine that he pushes the tiller over with a force of only 20#, that would equate to a force of 760 # at the pintles. What about the boat running off the trailer and the water hits the raised rudder blade and slams the rudder over against that stop. Rudder stops are usually set about a foot from the rudder stock so that the stopping forces are not so large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Jones Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Excellent point Graham. Frankly I didn't notice those square corners til I just looked again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lathrop Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Scott, Looks like a good job. One question that occurs to me is the strength of the pin bolt. It looks kind of small, especially regarding the point Graham brings up about shock loads caused by hitting the stops. Even in Indiana, I'd be concerned about stainless and aluminum being close to each other although the nylon bushing may adequately separate them. Nylon may be a bit soft for a bushing. Delrin would be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dunsworth Posted November 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 Thanks for the insight on the leverage thing Graham. I can see how you could rip the gundgeons right out of the boat. Its not a big deal for me to round off the corners where the rudder will turn the full 90 degrees. Tom the pin is 5/16ths and it does make contact with aluminum where it passes through the gundeon. THe nylon is pretty hard. I drilled the hole 1/2 inch in the pinnacle and inserted the bushing. And nylon washers on the top and bottom. With them all together the action is very smooth with no slop. If the bushings don't last to long it will only take a few minutes to push the old one out and insert a new one for 97 cents. Some of the factory made sets I looked at had nylon bushings. Thats where I got the idea to add them to my home made hinges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.