Rudder shaft Eureka!

[RGinCanada]

Well, I've finally had one of my rare original ideas (as opposed to "thiefing" from all the great minds here).

In order to remove the prop/prop shaft from my boat, I need to be able to remove the rudder, as I can't feed the shaft through the boat. This is a problem because this boat has a skeg, and the rudder linkage is far removed from the cabin opening in the deck. The skeg prevents the rudder from dropping down.

On my last boat I made the skeg removeable and disguised a 7/8" diameter access hole in the deck with a coil of rope. By removing the skeg, and loosening the linkage collar, the rudder could be dropped clear of the boat. Even so, loosening the set screw of the collar on the rudder shaft was an excercise in frustration.

This time I made a solid skeg, soldered a flange near the top of the rudder shaft, and threaded both ends of the shaft. The tiller arm (made from a scrap of aluminum) slips over the shaft, and is held in place with a cap nut. The cap nut is a scrap of brass threaded to match the rudder shaft, with a slot cut in the top.

The rudder is made of a short length of aluminum rod on the leading edge drilled and threaded for the rudder shaft. The rod is fastened to the rest of the rudder with a pair of wood screws and epoxy.

To assemble the rudder, the shaft is fed through the rudder tube, screwed into the rudder, and held in place with a lock nut. The tiller arm is connected to the linkage, and slipped over the top end of the shaft, and after everything is aligned, the cap nut is tightened down.

A 5/16" diameter deck access is all thats needed! Drawing attached, photos to follow.

[ropanach]

good job thinking out of the box,your brain will tune into what your doing when you kick it once and a wile.

[RGinCanada]

Finally got around to downloading pics from camera....

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Very nice RG,

While NOT working on the fire boat the last couple of weeks, I came up with a way to remove the skeg... :p

[RGinCanada]

Watcha working on there, Umi? Is that the ferry? Nice solution to the skeg. Here's my previous approach:

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Actually, I like your version there too, the hard metal connection is nice.
Seems a little simpler than the current version. Why did you decide to modify the connections. Aethetics? :p

RE the ship rudder in my pic:
It is almost a CGBob boat... :rolleyes:
That is the rudder and popeller section of a ASR, Auxilary Submarine Rescue ship. It is a ship that an older gentleman served on, and thought that he would never have a model of. I am just building the ship to basic running, and maybe boom crane operations. The rest of the dream he hopes to build for himself. ;)
I told him I could build the ship, but I can't detail his memories. When he first saw the plans, he started pointing out all sorts of discrepancies, and areas where he spent time, and how things worked on the ship. You just can't build those kind of things in a model, but you can certainly "take people back to the day.
:cool:

[RGinCanada]

Whoah! nice work!

The main reason I redesigned the skeg arrangement was to minimize the access hole in the deck. The plans call for an 8" portlight directly above the rudder, which is only 1/4" at 1/32 scale. On the last model, I had to cheat by carving a nearly 1" diameter hole in the deck, and covering it with a coil of rope. ( I needed the hole to loosen the screw on the steering collar)

I never trust myself enough to install things permanently... By making sure I can get at all the major bits and pieces, I sleep a little easier at night :)

Ray