Beneteau first 210 rudders removal

[MountainMike]

I'm trying to remove the rudders on a bene first 210. One has been damaged and I want to remove to have it fixed. I've removed the tiller and bar connected to the rudders so they are free. I just can't seem to lift them off no matter how much I swivel them.

[tkeithlu]

Nasty. The bent pintle is one problem, but it looks like you lift the rudder to release the bottom pintle/gudgeon, and lower the rudder to release the top one. That doesn't work unless one or the other releases. It looks like, from the presence of the cotter key, that the expected way is to release the top one by lowering the rudder, but that pintle is bent.

The upper gudgeon is going to have to come off in any case, because you won't be able to straighten it out bending against the fiberglass. Therefore, drilling out the stainless steel rivets holding it to the boat may be your best approach. For that you may need an extra long drill bit in order to get a straight shot at the rivets with the rudder in the way. Harbor Freight has them, and so does Amazon.

[Spot]

Hi Mike,
Make sure you take the cotter pins out first...flatten the legs together and draw out through the hole in the pintel on the eye side of the cotter pin with an awl or pliers.

[MountainMike]

Thanks for the advice. Had to remove the gudgeon to get the rudder off to fix the pintle. It looks like you can't get the rudders off without doing that. Removing the cotter pins still doesn't allow it to be removed, even in the good rudder. There is literally half a millimetre stopping it on either end.