This Spring I took Blue Moon’s rudder stock off to fix the loose pintle bolts and discovered something more concerning: the weld which runs down the front edge of the stock, and is consequently invisible in normal use, had split down its entire length. There were also cracks in the bottom corners of the stock, one of which looked as if it had been welded over in the past.

I’d hoped simply to re-weld it but a trip to the excellent Latbros (Latbros ) on Hayling Island soon dispelled that notion: Stas and Slava both agreed that with the loads a pivoting rudder places on the stock it would simply split again. Instead they fashioned a ‘wrap-around’ strengthening piece that covers the lower pintle bracket and then extends back on each side including the pivot hole. They also redid the weld on the front edge, reckoning that with the extra strength it should be fine from now on.

It was a thing of beauty until I scratched it with a spanner trying to do up the pivot bolt: that action confirmed that it is more than twice as strong as it was, as winding the cheeks into place was quite an effort. The only downside is that the rudder is now stiffer to raise, but that is no great loss as it was suspiciously loose before; I’ve had to reinstate the stand-off on the back of the rudder stock.

It wasn’t cheap (£765) but well worth it as a split or jammed rudder stock would be a disaster. I’d urge fellow owners to keep a good eye on their rudder stocks too, and if you decide to do the work I would recommend Latbros heartily (as do many locals).

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