Paul -
I have a 1.5 inch long metal stud sticking out of the bottom of my hull
about six inches in front of the rudder. Somewhere I have a picture,
but never put it on a web page. Every time I haul I wonder if I
shouldn't just cut it off, but figure what the heck it's not causing a
problem so leave it alone.
Bottom line: Clean the hole out and fill it. It doesn't go through the
hull, obviously, or you wouldn't have time to ask the question. <VBG>
The hull is very thick there (possibly 1.5" or more) and a good
vinylester or epoxy resin thickened up, with a little patch of cloth
over it will make it go away.
Here's what I think: The LF38, with a shoal draft, was originally
designed with a different rudder. When I was looking at pictures of
them before buying mine, I noticed that some older boats had a shallow
rudder that extended forward of the post, so that the post was about
five inches behind the leading edge of the rudder. (Just behind the
little stud.) It had the same surface area as my rudder, but didn't
extend as deep. From a cruising perspective this makes total sense.
You don't want to be on the hook or pushing through shallow water with a
deep rudder, because in any kind of chop or swell the boat will rock
over the keel (I wanted to say hobby-horse, but I've been on boats that
hobby-horse) and you don't want to bang the rudder against the bottom.
I think that the shallow rudder design didn't work. Perhaps the boat
didn't sail as well, or perhaps someone decided that there was no point
building a bunch of unique rudders, when there was a darn good rudder
for a darn good 38 sitting on the shelf. Personally, I appreciate the
big deep rudder on my boat, and I get a lot of lift from it when the
boat is trimmed well. It's about six inches shorter than the keel, and
I always keep that in mind when crossing a sand bar in wind or swell.
I think that the little stud was there to keep things (fishing lines,
lady's underwear) from fouling up the rudder/hull joint. That would
probably work with a rudder that was only an inch behind the stud, as
the offending item would slide down the stud and hit the leading edge of
the rudder. I don't think it has much value with the rudder you have,
so fill the hole and move on.
And, here's where everyone will call me a heretic and burn me at the
stake. Once I had to do a spot repair, in three hours, to fix a mistake
made by a boatyard worker. My boat was taking on water, and the yard
boss was insisting that it was my fault,
<*SNIP*>
Okay, I deleted 5000 words because I was getting metaphysical.
Plug the hole and go sailing.
Wal
Paul wrote:
I have come across a small pencil-sized hole in my LF38 hull located a few
inches forward of the rudder tube. I am not certain of the intent of this
hole, but I do recall that on my old 29-1 that it had a short stainless rod
coming out of the hull from about the same location(a line diverter?). My
guess is that the LF38 had a similar rod which is now missing. I am thinking
of filling the hole. Does anyone know what this hole actually is and is there
any reason why it should not be filled?
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