Craven County

Lastly and the greatest news in our haul out was the fact that everyone said our rudder was fine ….. and we should stop being a pair of Nancies about it and sail on over to Bermuda already.

A few months earlier before our shake down sail in September, we hauled out in Salem MA. The inspector mentioned a bit of “play” between the rudder post and rudder and saw water bubbling out of the post. We had a wet rudder and he showed concern about it. We contemplated and researched all our venues of possible outcomes on the way down. We learned that FossFoam (in FL) was our go to for a new rudder. And if they had a mold already set for a Pearson 424 they just had to reconstruct the rudder which would be a HUGE cost savings. Unfortunately (or fortunately …) Pearson boats aren’t known for rudder problems. We have a skeg rudder that is essentially built solid with epoxy on the perimeter and has two or three metal arms attached to the rudder post and act as the skeleton of the rudder. Next to the metal skeleton is foam. The concern would be if the welds attaching the arms to the rudder post were corroded and broke in heavy weather. Then we would be left with a free spinning helm and no Shit-happens-cough-it-uprudder control. We drilled a hole in the top outside of the rudder in case of a rudder
emergency. The idea is to tie a rope through the hole and steer Captain Ron style. The following day we also asked if Turtle, expert mariner, would take a look at our boat. He did and explained how boats like ours were born (made). The woven fabric of fiber glass allows the boat to heave and move with the ocean whereas the epoxy acts as the solid rigidity. Both sides of the equation will change meaning your hull will change and you’ll see “age lines”. Over the years, your boat takes hull shuddering hits, enormous gusts bending and testing the rigging and the keel. What I found interesting was the fact that the hull shape will change when it moves from water to land. You’re engine / Vdrive shaft alignment is different on land than it is in the water. After looking Gaia over, and talking to us about boat construction for a better half of an hour, he looked at us point blank and spoke honestly. He said ocean worthy boats like this are overbuilt. The boat will last, it may sail differently if the hull were to be waterlogged balsa core but she’d still sail. He looked at our rudder and shook his head. “I wouldn’t touch the rudder if it’s working right now. If it’ll help you sleep at night, then sure. Do it if you want for that reason but other than that, you’re fine to go to Bermuda.” And it dawned on me, most of my fears were mental or because I was still novice.Read more