Keel to Rudder Arm

Hello, Everyone.
I am *still* not launched, and was sanding the bottom of the arm that goes from the back of the keel to the bottom of the rudder. I know there is a name for it but I don't know it. It forms the bottom of the propeller aperture, if that helps. Anyway, I'll call it an arm until corrected. All of a sudden there was water; not a lot, but the sander was throwing it all around. The boat has been out of the ocean for 7 months, so what the hell? When I looked at the bottom of the arm, there was a drilled hole in the mid-portion of the bottom and it was leaking. It looked like a screw hole whose screw fell out. Maybe. There are other screws that look like they hold something together. I figure that the hole was blocked by sea life, but not once I started sanding. Made for a great weep hole on land. Not so good under weigh.

The outside of this arm is stainless. Was the inside a 2x4 or something? There isn't anything there now when I stick a screwdriver in. Probably rotted away if it was wood. Is this an issue?

Any help or insight would be appreciated. I'll try to get some pix when I get back to the boat today.

Steve

Thanks, Hayden. I can't figure that hole out. I mean, there just isn't any reason for it's existence. But fortunately, the weed shoe is structurally sound, so there is no reason to get my knickers in a twist about this. I'm going to bed something into it and move on to the next obstacle to launch. New England this summer, the Chesapeake in the fall, and the Caribbean in the winter! (If the gods are willing!!!)
Maybe I'll see you somewhere?
Steve

Hi Steve,

Just saw your post and Hayden's reply. We have an identical shoe to yours on our 380 and for some time I could not figure out why water seeped out of the junction between the shoe and the keel for months after the boat is hauled. Often it was still wet when we came to paint the bottom in the spring. I finally realized that the back of the shoe where the rudder post fits is higher than the front where it joins the keel, so the bottom of the hollow box section stays full of water with nowhere to drain and it slowly comes out of any tiny cracks in the bedding of the shoe with the keel. My solution was to drill a hole (actually two holes) in the bottom of the shoe to let the water drain out when the boat is hauled. Problem solved! I'll bet that's what your hole is. Maybe your previous owner drilled one, or maybe the factory started putting a drain hole in the bottom of shoes in later boats. In any case, the hole can get clogged with paint, weed or critters, and your sanding disturbed the blockage and water poured out. So don't block the hole - it serves a purpose.

It's unlikely that the water you saw is coming from the bilge, as the fixing screws on each side of the weed shoe go into solid fiberglass at the bottom of the keel and is far from where water collects in the bilge.

Although the shoe is not structural and the boat will float and the rudder will stay in place without it, it does in fact help stabilize the rudder and reduce vibration and flutter, which can be quite noticeable on IPs. That's why the factory added a U-shaped Delrin shim which fits into the back of the shoe around the bottom of the rudder post. When that gets worn, rudder vibration gets noticeably worse and it's worth replacing the shim.

Hope this solves the mystery!
Graham

Graham Jones
Indigo, IP380-01
West River, MD

I bedded a screw to fill the hold, so doing what you suggest should be an easy process next time the boat is hauled. I'm not sure why the advantage is of a boxed gizmo over the original, simple design on other boats, but there you have it.

Thanks again for your insight!

Steve

Steve, glad to be of assistance. The box section weed shoe and it's attachment to the keel is much stronger and more rigid than the original shoe design and, as I mentioned, does contribute to stabilizing the rudder. The flat strip used previously probably didn't do much except keep weed and lines from fouling the rudder or prop; it was a good design change.