Lost part of my Rudder!

[nautique_stealth]

Sorry for my lack of knowledge... But I lost the adjustable part of my rudder recently. I don't know what it's called, or really what it's even for... alignment?

I noticed it was gone when I took the boat out this weekend. I've been out 4 times this year and I don't know when it happened. The best part... the screws are shirred off. How do I deal with this?

I didn't even notice it was missing, why?

Anyone know where to get one?

I'm going on Vacation 700 miles south next Friday...

[Chexi]

Ack! What are you doing to my (I mean your) boat! All kidding aside, that is the tunable part of your tunable rudder. I would call whitelake / nautiqueparts.com and describe what your are dealing with (send them a picture or two). They have or can get the parts you need and are great with helping troubleshoot. Also, you get the PN discount with them for part.

I suspect you will need to carefully drill out the screw remnants.

[nautique_stealth]

Haha, I have no idea how it happened. I remember it being loose last fall, so I tighted them up. There is no damage anywhere, so it's not like I hit something. I was on their site yesterday and didn't see anything, but I'll call tomorrow.

I hope they aren't really tight in the rudder, might be near impossible to get them out.

Loving the boat though!

P.S. Did I mention I finally decided to keep it in a storage unit? Thanks to the constant reminder of your face when I told you I was going to store it outside!

[Chexi]

Haha! I bet my look of being completely dumbstruck did stick in your mind! The conversation sure stuck in mine. And now I'm moving to austin for the summer and may have to store my SAN outside! I can't believe it myself. I'm going to scour the area for indoor storage for 3 weeks before I bring it down and hopefully will find my baby an indoor home.

How is the top speed working out? I remember you mentioning an issue that it was not breaking 40 for some reason.

By the way, I think the tunable rudder basically sets the neutral heading of the boat with no pressure on the wheel. Hopefully you won't have to replace the entire rudder. Whitelake will help you out if they can.

[nautique_stealth]

Hope rates are better than here! Do you guys have 'Extra Space Storage' down there? I got in on a 2 month free promo with no contract. $150/mo after that.

Haven't had time to look into the top speed issue. I took my GPS out with me as speedo has been in and out. I hit 39 at 4850 rpm. I'd take it to my nautique dealer, but they are $125/hr and haven't been too impressed by their knowledge...

[AirTool]

I suspect you will need to carefully drill out the screw remnants.

If so, I'd order some smaller diameter left hand drill bits from mcmaster carr. Maybe half the diameter. Once they start to bite, the screw threads out.

[Chexi]

Good idea. Let the drill bit's screw direction work to unscrew the screw remnants.

[Sell]

In Australia the items you need are known as 'easy outs'. You drill a small hole in the screw & then the easy out screws in with a LH thread, which bites & then screws out the broken bolt remnants.

[AirTool]

In Australia the items you need are known as 'easy outs'. You drill a small hole in the screw & then the easy out screws in with a LH thread, which bites & then screws out the broken bolt remnants.

We have easy-outs also. Often, if you drill your easy out hole with the left hand bit, the item will unscrew without need for the easy out. If the easy out is needed, it may be a long day

If the threads are lost, a heli-coil can be used to get back to the original thread/bolt size.

[nautique_stealth]

Yup, that's what I was planning on using. I have a few sets, but I'm getting thin on the common size because I've used them so much they don't work that great anymore. Might need to pick some more up. Anyone know the quality of the McMaster bits and easy outs? I've never ordered anything from them before.

Also, any idea if these screws would have had thread locker on them?