Swedish yacht sank.

[hpeer]

Walking through the boatyard last week one boat had its rather large aluminum swing keel out for repair. It looked like they were replacing the square box the attachment oin went into. This keel was about 7’ high.

About 50 yards away a workman was chipping away at a fiberglass rudder. The lower half was laying in the ground. The other half was still attached to the stock, but the stock only went through the top half of the rudder. A older lady was with him, looked like owner stock. That has to be a bit sobering to see half your rudder a pile of disintegrated junk on the ground. And the looking at the remaining half wondering what you will attach the new bit to.

[donradcliffe]

Lot of boats use spherical rudder bearings with a seal in the bottom bearings. Big problems when the shaft breaks or the upper bearing comes adrift. The lack of vertical support turns the shaft into a machine which rapidly makes a large hole in the boat.

The Santa Cruz 70 OEX had the upper bearing fail and sank in the 2019 Transpac. They had a carbon fiber rudder shaft, but moved the rudder position DIY without consulting a naval architect.