Rudder pops on Prindle 19

Yes there is a solution. The locking cam that snaps under the pin that is attached to the 2 springs on the outside of the rudder casting can be adjusted. There is a nut on the outside of the rudder around the cam and another that sits atop the half moon washer inside the access hole. You will need to loosen both nuts, the one on top of the half moon washer is normally the hardest to free up. You will need to us a screw driver to wedge next to one of the flat sides of the nut and using vise grips turn the cam it self. You will either need to lengthen or shorten the amount of cam that is past the nut that is on the outside of the rudder. Make sure to retighten both nuts and line up the cam so it will properly engage the locking pin controled by the springs. You may need this 1 or 2 times to get it where you want. Then make sure both nuts are tightened firmly. You will need to do this while the boat is on a trailer or cat trax so the rudders can get to a locked down position. It really is pretty easy to accomplish.

are the rudder systems the same for a p-16 as for p-19? sounds like it. my 16 had the same problem and adjusting in and out still didn't stop it because the cam bolts were shot(bent and worn). new bolts are 28$ each at murrays(ouch). i found the exact ss carriage bolt for .40$ ea. and used a 4" grinder to make new ones(10 mins. each). i installed them, set the rudder rake to the manuals specs and adjusted the release tension with a flat file. i went ahead and replaced all the rudders nuts, washers, bolts, and lines while i was at it. hopefuly you can adjust a bit and sail on, hullflyer is right on.

I've adjusted my pin with no good results. I tried a different pin with similar pre-mature release results (too easy to release). I don't want to buy new pins if there is something else wrong. Seems like the spring is too weak or mis adjusted. (BTW, I even grinded one pin for more of a bite with no luck). Thoughts?

New springs make a huge difference on the Prindle rudders. Try new springs and let us know if it fixed it.

Thanks for the help. Made adjustments as suggested by Hullflyer and appears to have made a significant differece. Not enough wind on Sunday to wet test it but on land seems to have fixed the problem. If not will try the new springs. Thanks, Scott

I had the exact same issue with my P18 and did pretty much the same thing HULLFLYER suggested and it worked great.

on my p-16 I found proper rake&shimming my rudders weakened mylock down possition soI removed the bolt & springs bought the correct round rat tail file and lengthend the hole 1/16 of an inch in the casting that holds the rudders, re installed old springs & bolt ..problem was solved carefull not to widen this hole or youll get fore &aft slop.I also added a stainless steel washer drilled to fit rudder pin,its at the load bearing points between the transom gudgeons & the rudder castings,shes nice & tite now.
p-16

edited by: nitrodub, Jul 13, 2010 - 03:41 AM

Another bit of advice....If the hole that the rudder blade itself rotates on is worn and has slop your rudders will not funtion properly. My P19 system is in good shape but wouldnt lock down yesterday. Looking at the rudders we found that the hole in the blade itself had become slightly bigger allowing the rudder blade to move up and down. The up and down movement allowed the lock down bolt to unhook. So looks like ive got some filling to do!

TurboCat wrote: Another bit of advice....If the hole that the rudder blade itself rotates on is worn and has slop your rudders will not funtion properly. My P19 system is in good shape but wouldnt lock down yesterday. Looking at the rudders we found that the hole in the blade itself had become slightly bigger allowing the rudder blade to move up and down. The up and down movement allowed the lock down bolt to unhook. So looks like ive got some filling to do!

I don't know if this would help here or not, but what I did with my rudder system on my 5.2 was to drill almost every hole (castings, gudgeons) out a step larger, then insert a nylon spacer with the correct ID in the larger hole. It gave me very tight fits, and a touch of 'cushion' compared to the SS and aluminum.

Ahh great minds think alike Yurdle!
I went and found some easily replacable nylon/delrin spacers last night at Home Depot. I bought twice as many as i need so i will have plenty of spares when they start to develop slop. Gotta love a HD bill under $5. Thats never happened before!

TurboCat wrote: Ahh great minds think alike Yurdle!
I went and found some easily replacable nylon/delrin spacers last night at Home Depot. I bought twice as many as i need so i will have plenty of spares when they start to develop slop. Gotta love a HD bill under $5. Thats never happened before!

I know, those things are dirt cheap, and with a little searching you can find every size you'd ever want. My rudders had 0 play when I was done...I broke my foot this time last summer, and since I couldn't sail for 6 weeks or so I took the time to completely redo the rudder system, as it was horrible before..

I just found my problem, the angle of the hole where the pin fits into the rudder front is either elongated or drilled a bit off angle. This angles the pin to hit the cam too low (not enough hooking pressure). The hole seems fairly tight so I took a pin and bent it and now it works. The pin hits the cam perfectly and locks in the cam. Weird.

Divimon,
Thats another problem on my set of rudders too. If that hole gets out of shape there is slop and that doesnt allow the hook to latch securely. I bought a couple big stainless washers and bent them to the profile of the rudder and think it has fixed my problem. All that force bangs the nut into the blade every time it gets locked down and slowly elongates the hole and can bust up the gelcoat. The washer will take away from the rake i can achieve but im hoping it helps the rudders last longer by spreading the load.

I see, thanks for that tip. I may try that or positioning the pin correctly and injecting in some epoxy to full the gap. Wax on the pin of course.