DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

The rudder downhaul bolt broke for me; I was going to moor up alongside to a small island and misjudged the depth. First I thought that it was the auto-release. But it was the eye in the rudder blade that broke off. It was only 2/3 of the material left. So it broke.
We made a repair at see; a rope around the blade and where able to sail 2 more days.

So it is just to replace the eyebolt screw.
Two questions

1) The new hole, should I drill that over or below the old? (the bolt is still there)
2) The eye – should it be horizontal or vertical?

I think I drill a new hole over the old and put the eye in vertical position. Any ideas?

Secondly I think I’ll skip the shackle this time and just pull the dynema rope around the eye – less stuff that can get stuck.

Christian;- When rudder is held in by the tackle, the eyebolt goes up into the little tunnel in the transom. Therefore, the new eyebolt will need to be in exactly the same position as the old one. The eye needs to be horizontal on my boat to fit in the hole/tunnel, and the eye is actually bent upwards very slightly. When exactly horizontal on my boat, the eye would just hit the bottom edge of the hole, and prevented the rudder from coming all the way 'home'. I think you will have to get the old eyebolt out;- bad news, sorry! Mal

Hi Mal
It is not so bad; I have de-mounted all parts of the rudder "system". So I know how it works. The tunnel is about 5 cm in diameter so there is quite a lot of space there. As you can see on the photo:

Please click on the photo to see it enlarged!


It is almost possible to see that the rudder-blade-heel meets the ruder fittings – and when they meet the “clonk” sound tells the rudder is in position.

I think the new bolt could be higher! It is quite low. I made the new hole above the old bolt and it is still low.

Think that one of reasons for my earlier problems is that the old bolt was too low. When it is close to the bottom of the tunnel – it gets stuck much easier. The shackle gets stuck between rudder blade, rudder fittings, and tunnel.

Made one simple improvement: a piece of tape around the downhaul rope – so one can see that the rudder is in position. The downhaul should be pulled down to the level that the mark on the rope should be over the cleat – then is the rudder blade in right position.

I have not removed the shackle yet; have not made up my mind.

Hi Christian,

I need to mount a new lower rudder bearing at my DF920. Do you know how to do this. Do I need to demount the bottom plate that holds the rudder or is there another wy to do this?

Christian wrote:Hi Mal
It is not so bad; I have de-mounted all parts of the rudder "system". So I know how it works. The tunnel is about 5 cm in diameter so there is quite a lot of space there. As you can see on the photo:

Please click on the photo to see it enlarged!


It is almost possible to see that the rudder-blade-heel meets the ruder fittings – and when they meet the “clonk” sound tells the rudder is in position.

I think the new bolt could be higher! It is quite low. I made the new hole above the old bolt and it is still low.

Think that one of reasons for my earlier problems is that the old bolt was too low. When it is close to the bottom of the tunnel – it gets stuck much easier. The shackle gets stuck between rudder blade, rudder fittings, and tunnel.

Made one simple improvement: a piece of tape around the downhaul rope – so one can see that the rudder is in position. The downhaul should be pulled down to the level that the mark on the rope should be over the cleat – then is the rudder blade in right position.

I have not removed the shackle yet; have not made up my mind.

I think the DF920 is similar to my DF1000.
Yes, you need to remove the bottom plate to get the rudder fixture out. It is quite easy. Just remove the nuts from inside.

I'll send a couple of photos to be attached here

Hi Karl
Sorry for the delay, got down to the marina today and had a look at the rudder design, it looks like you have to demount the bottom plate. Think you should do it with the boat ashore.
Christian