Making Rudder Pins for Hobie Cats

Bille & BobBill - I bought my Delrin Rod (8 ft. long; 3/8' diameter) from Ridout Plastics in San Diego, CA in 1983. They don't just sell plastic products, they also make unusual things and cut plastic products to your specifications. They'll work with you and they're very creative. I've been to their store several times in the past with some unusual requests that were work-related. I just looked it up online and apparantly they also call themselves e-plastics. Their 800 nuber is 1-800-474-3688.
Richard

BTW I'm not against the SS pins. I use them everywhere except in the surf. The fiberglass pins, sure they can break just like everything else if they are not in good shape. They and the aluminum ones are definitely wear items.

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

The aluminum pins crap out very quickly, especially if you sail in salt water! Galvanic corrosion, I guess. Even in fresh, they wear fairly fast. The original type nylon pins DO wear fast- you've got to keep an eye on 'em, but even in my16, they'll hold up for several hard sails. As someone mentioned- better broken pin(s) than blown out gudgeons or transom. Yeah, this will only save you close to shore, but I, for one don't have the $ to risk my boats as a throwaway!

Dave

McMaster-Carr - www.mcmaster.com

I made and used aluminum pins for about 15 years. Actually I made 3 pair, replaced them once for wear (but the old ones weren't really worn much) and still have the third pair. I have done a lot of sailing, most of it in fresh water. I don't doubt that there is corrosion if used in salt water but it wouldn't be galvanic. That involves 2 dissimilar metals and I believe the gudgeons are aluminum also. Though stainless and aluminum are pretty close on the electromotive series, it is possible that the stainless would be more of a cause of galvanic corrosion than aluminum rods.

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Howard

I had aluminum pins on my old boat. They seized solid in the castings, and when one broke I had to take the casting to a machine shop to have the pin remnants drilled out. They also wore badly on those old unlined gudgeons.

In retrospect I should have reconditioned those castings with the bushing kit. I didn't know it was available at the time.

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

All the gudgeons that I've seen are SS. There are lots of other causes for wear and failure. Sand and sun around the joints, is your boat covered? I've been using aluminum because that's what was on the boat and in the goodie box that came with it, I also like the concept of the removable replaceable part being softer than the primary component. If you have a nice hard SS rudder pin, you'll wear out your gudgeons...

I've seen some rudder failures in surf, and am not sure that a delrin pin is going to save you. The pin that broke on the H18 at the North American's last year was Nylon, so the Delrin choice may be fine.


Regardless of your choice, be sure to keep one or two spare on board. We had a H16 go over in the ocean at a recent regatta, and their pin fell out, it doesn't matter what pin it was, they didn't have it anymore. I used to carry them, but didn't and they didn't have an extra, and it was nuking, so they had to drop sails and get towed in.

Have fun!

Tom

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Tom
Fleet 259, Central Coast CA
H18 ('81)
H18 ('85)
H20 ('97)
H18 ('78)

I had to go out and look at boat and you are right. The gudgeons appear to be stainless but the rudder castings I believe are aluminum and present a considerable amount of surface area in contact with the pins. With the success I have had with aluminum rods, I'll stick with them. After 29 years of owning the boat, I have replaced the pins twice in spite of a lot of sailing. I also trailer the boat with the rudders in place which you would expect to increase the wear.

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Howard