What is the procedure to bend a Prindle Gudgeon back to shape. I have one that is bent which causes a significant amount of rudder slop. Is it possible to heat and bend back without breaking/cracking? Anyone ever attempt?
Looking at Murrays, a new gudgeon is $10 plus shipping.
Personally, I'd rather change it than try to bend it back and be worried about it breaking later.
Sorry - I meant to say the Prindle Rudder Casting
Those are cast aluminum and quite brittle, so... be gentle.
Those castings do not bend very successfully. I’d get hold of Pete Begle, or Dan Berger, both are reputable vendors on this site.
https://www.thebeachcats.com/classifieds/catamaran-parts-for-sale/p16326-prindle-rudder-castings26amp-3b-rudders.html
And don't heat aluminum to bend it. Aluminum will not significantly soften with heat, and it melts into a puddle all of a sudden with too much heat.
mason1114 wrote: Sorry - I meant to say the Prindle Rudder Casting
Can you send a pic of the casting? How is it bent? Are you referring to the tiller bar?
i have gently bent some aluminum rudder castings from 1980's nacras back into shape. it can be done but not very far. depends on where it's bent i guess. mine took some pretty hefty blows with a sledge hammer using a block of wood to absorb the shock.
j
I have seen the Prindle rudder casting getting warped from time to time... but never bent... You may want to try heating it up and see if can get it back to the original shape or close to it. At this point you have nothing to lose.. but my recommendation would be to buy a used or new one.. they pop up from time to time on Craigs list pretty cheap
heating aluminum will usually make it more brittle, not more ductile.
There is a lot of info on the web about bending aluminum castings, and temperature matters. Not too hot but not too cold. I would set it up with a clamp so that I can straighten it a little bit at a time. Rub the casting down with a bar of soap. Hit it with a torch, and when the soap is brown, clamp it down a bit. Don't do it all at once. I am not a metallurgist, and don't know how much you want to bend it, but I might do this over a few weeks. A little heat, a little bend, and then a few beers...repeat. Once you have it where you want, it should not spring back.
thanks
mason1114 wrote: What is the procedure to bend a Prindle Gudgeon back to shape. I have one that is bent which causes a significant amount of rudder slop. Is it possible to heat and bend back without breaking/cracking? Anyone ever attempt?
Causing rudder slop infers that the two loops of aluminum that form a slot for the rudder are bent outwards away from the rudder, causing a wider channel towards the aft edge of the rudder. Is this the issue? I had the very same issue on my latest P19 when I first got it. I put a large C clamp on it and compressed it back together. I just snugged it up the first day. Then, I would give the clamp a turn each day over a period of about a week. I was afraid it would explode into pieces at any moment, and found that humming a little tune seemed to work whenever I would tighten the clamp.
In the end, it worked out fine. If I bent it another 1/4 inch or so it would be perfect but just don't want to push my luck.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around where it is bent. Are you referring to the two ears that encapsulate the rudders? Where the rudder bolts through?