Currently rudderless!

Submitted by Browne4573 on Sun, 04/13/2014 - 19:21

Forums:

Swapped my 7' row/motor dinghy for a mirror today. Unfortunately the person swapping has lost the rudder. I have the tiller and the fittings on the boat, metal hook thingy? But no rudder or the block it's hinged on. If anyone knows where I can get one or if anyone has a spare then I would appreciate it.
I have not sailed before apart from an hours tester session in a single sail plastic thing which was like a large surfboard. Would I be best just using the main sail to begin with? I'm. Not looking to race around I just want to cruise along without a noisy outboard. I plan to go to loch morlich and they don't allow any motorised propulsion even electric.

haventaclue

Sun, 04/13/2014 - 23:00

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mirror-Dingy-Rudder-and-Stock-and-holt-alumini...
There are a few on ebay at the moment,here's one

sail_and_oar's picture

sail_and_oar

Sun, 04/13/2014 - 23:03

The fittings that hold the rudder to the boat are pintles and gudgeons. The pintle is the fitting with the pin and the gudgeon is the fitting with the eye.

On my Mirror there is a pintle pointing down at the top of the rudder stock and a gudgeon below it. This matches up with a pintle pointing up near the bottom of the transom and a gudgeon some way above it. There should be a securing clip between them to stop the rudder assembly falling off in the event of a capsize.

Loads of Mirror hulls have been scrapped and there are second hand rudders out there which need a new home. Many sailing clubs will have members who have Mirror stuff in storage. Check all the screws are holding well. The standard elastic downhaul is a poor design. Unless the elastic is in really good order it will want replacing. Also check the screw which attaches the downhaul elastic to the rudder blade is holding well where it screws into the rudder blade and that the blade is not rotten here.

A bit of rot in the rudder assembly isn't a disaster. It will need fixing but we can tell you how - please ask.

Failing all this Trident UK can supply all this stuff new. Check prices before you commit yourself.

You can sail a Mirror without a jib but it will be a bit out of balence. I would try to get used to handling both sails early on.

Sailing the Mirror by Roy Partridge and Mirror Racing by Guy Wilkins are really great instruction books. Both cover much the same stuff as one another except Guy Wilkin's book has a section on building a Mirror. There are sometimes second hand copies at amazon but these are small books and not overly expensive.

Cliff

muckle moose's picture

muckle moose

Mon, 04/14/2014 - 01:54

Hi Browne,

Loch Morlich eh?! nice part of the world for sailing! I would get in contact with someone at the Loch Morlich sailing club and see if they have something kicking around. They come up fairly regularly on websites such as ebay, apolloduck, gumtree, but rudders are an awkward shape to post and the postage might cost more than the rudder! I was going to suggest making one if you are handy with wood working tools, but the cost of the stainless fittings alone may be prohibitive. Heres one on Gumtree the now, but as usual it's way down south...

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/mirror-dinghy-parts-rudder-and-centre-...

Best of luck finding something suitable!
Euan

PuffinInTegel's picture

PuffinInTegel

Tue, 04/15/2014 - 12:54

The rudder on ebay linked by haventaclue is rather pricey and it is an "old" model with thick pintles. If you buy a rudder with the wrong fittings, you'll end up with more work than necessary and have to buy the correct fittings to boot. I wasn't aware of this issue until last weekend when I inspected the boat being sold here in Berlin ( 53411 - "old style" rudder fittings) and was able to compare it with mine (62816 - "new style" rudder fittings - see picture below).
discussing fittings
Incidentally the discussion in the picture arose because another boat had suffered a broken pintle on its rudder which had an identical fitting (probably grounded the blade when going about in too shallow water).
Gernot H.