Lost rudder in the pacific, outside Marshall

[Octopus]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Any catamaran owners here lost their rudders? It would be interesting see what jury rig systems they came up with.

I know when I had a steering issue on my cat, one rudder wasn't enough to cope with the 25-30 knt winds and large-ish seas on the starboard quarter. Motoring on the other hand was perfectly fine.

In September 2015, I lost the use of one of the rudders crossing the Bay of Biscay in 25 knot winds on our Lagoon 420. The (20mm diameter S/S) port rudder linkage sheared, so we lost control of the rudder. Hand steering in those conditions with one rudder was possible, but not easy. I don't think the autopilot would have been able to steer, but since it was attached to the broken linkage we didn't find out. My brother was able to helm for the hour it took for me to lash the broken linkage together. The jury repair lasted 800 miles until we complete our trip to Scotland.

See my previous post for the details: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2237283

Windancer IV, a Lagoon 440, had the rudder linkage failure when crossing the Atlantic, so any Lagoons out there should consider carrying a spare rudder linkage and should definitely investigate further if their steering appears heavy. See link below for an account of Windancer's rudder linkage failure:
https://www.sailblogs.com/member/windancer/58030

Chris

Octopus, Lagoon 420 Hybrid
Isle of Arran, Scotland

[B23iL23]

Quick update/followup. Apparently the cause of the loss of the rudder has been found.


"The Owners of Hilma have found the cause. They had stray DC current from their compass set up corrosion in the rudder stock. Faulty wires or some such. Their is a post on Jeanneau pro boards about it."

Jenneau Rudder Shaft - Failure at Sea - Page 8