A27- Rudder shoe

[JT48348]

My rudder shoe appears to be made of wood. Its painted. Could be pressure treated. Idk. What does everyone else have? this is not mine but shows the piece i'm talking about. The rudder shoe is the piece of the rudder that goes from the bottom of the aft keel to the bottom of the rudder and encloses the propeller cavity. Looks like a piece of painted wood 2' long, maybe 2-3" wide.

Seems like this should be metal of some sort, maybe stainless or bronze.

[tego]

JT, The shoe on all factory original Albin 27's is wood. Mine is mahogany. Ben

[don123]

My '84 model didn't come with one and I'm 95% sure it never had one - There was no sign of either a pivot point on the bottom of the rudder, nor where there any holes in the aft end of the keel. I added both when I installed a stainless shoe after I added 5 inches to the leading edge of the rudder

Don

[JT48348]

Don: did you have yours made out stainless. and if so was it flat stock or did you have something welded up in a pox configuration?

thanks
J

[tego]

Don, If I remember right, one of the old timers on here said the first batch of 27FC's, which were built in the yard of the designer, were built without a shoe. When Albin started building them in the factory, they got a shoe. Anyway, if my shoe ever goes bad or gets broken, I plan on replacing it with a piece of stainless channel. The picture of one of the first ones that's on here somewhere, shows a shoeless rudder that looks quite a bit smaller also. I personally like a shoe 'cause I like to gunkhole and the large rudder makes for great maneuverability. Ben

[Mark Deeser]

Don, could you go into some detail on your rudder modification? Did you feel it needed more authority? Sounds like an interesting project. Thanks, Mark.

[don123]

I had a sailboat with a 'balanced rudder' - Where a sizeable portion of the rudder is forward of the pivot point so when the rudder is fully turned, it catches the wash of more than just half of the propeller thrust. That boat could almost turn around in it's own length and the helm was very responsive

I knew before I even put it in the water I would never be happy with the A-27's 'barn door' rudder and the lack of a support at the bottom of the rudder really concerned me - The rudder shaft is a fairly small, thin walled stainless tube and it just looked to me like one good grounding could easily bend it. We have 'thin' water all around here on the Gulf Coast. I would have thought that with no skeg or shoe on the bottom, Albin would have (should have) used a solid bar for the rudder shaft

Anyway, I took a piece of 2 X 4 the length of the rudder and tapered it on my tablesaw and attached it to the forward edge of the rudder with 4 or 5 long screws. I wrapped that with several layers of fiberglass matt soaked with epoxy resin and shaped and faired it smooth. The forward edge now is much sharper and narrower than it used to be and extends forward 5 or 6 inches from the rudder pivot point

I turned the rudder upside down and drilled a 1/2 inch hole in it where the pivot point should be and epoxied in an 8 inch 3/8ths stainless bolt with the head cut off and the threads extending below the rudder. The skeg or shoe is a piece of 2 inch by 1/4 stainless supported with a piece of 3/4 angle welded to the top of it. It extends forward on the bottom of the keel about a foot, with 3 mounting bolts drilled through the keel. I used epoxy coated wood blocks inside the keel bedded in plenty 3M 5200 with washers and aircraft nuts on top. You can reach this with a long arm through the inspection port in the floor of the aft cabin

I haven't had it in the water since the rudder mods, but safe to say it should turn much better and with a lighter helm load than a stock A-27. I'm currently in the process of replacing the helm with an Octopus Drive with remote control

http://www.boatersland.com/itsoctafints ... 7AodLBIArQ

Don

[JT48348]

That's sounds like an excellent modification. I was checking out my rudder today and it appears to be metal, could easily add this maybe, or even weld an extra piece onto the leading edge.

[Don from Mystic]

Tego, I have one of the first batch made. They did not come with a shoe. I have had mine apart as the fiberglass rudder post tube was wearing thinner than I liked (many of the parts on the early ones were custom fabricated, likely in some local machine shop). I cut off the stainless post and went to a slightly smaller dia and bushed the tube. I find the boat to be very maneuverable and as easy as boats Ive owned with hydraulic steering.

[sail149]

From what I understand from Fred Hunt who has met and talked with Joe Pecuo? the designer, he also built the first 100 boats as his contract with Albin to design and build 100. This happened in cos Cobb.... I've been there and I don't know how they had the space.
Any way from what I have researched these first 100 ( or was it 75?) had fiberglass rudders and no shoe. When Albin bought out joe ( but not pay for the design work according to joe) they added the shoe in wood and at some point changed the rudder to a stainless steel weldment.... Like my '84. This might even have happened during the first 75-100. My boat was change to a stainless C-channel with a large zinc anode . Or maybe it came that way..... But probably not too expensive.
Below are 3 photos on first , later and last rudders. Notice the step in the bottom of the keel for the shoe on the later models. Also the other photo posted earlier shows a fiberglass rudder and wood shoe.."I guess a transition version before going to SS rudder.?"
The shoe is clearly a good idea to keep lobster pot lines off the rudder but I doubt how much support it can give that far from the mounting point.
It certainly is a large rudder compared to many powerboats ( but not a sail boat)
Warren

[JFOkie]

I did mine over three years ago, it looks similar to the third picture Sail147 provided. Mine was done in white oak I think, but it is beefier and tapers down some. The one that was on the boat when I purchased it was some half baked mix of fiberglass skin and bondo sandwiched in the middle......piece of crap. I coated mine in epoxy and then use bottom paint every year and it has held up very well.

[JT48348]

Thanks so much for the photos and explinstion. I too have rudder shoe from third photo it looks like.

[don123]

Very interesting!

My boat is definitely one of the earliest models as the rudder is fiberglass and there is no 'notch' in the keel for the rudder shoe. My hull # is AUL27116M84A which I always assumed made it the 116th boat built? Maybe there were more than 75 or 100 in that first production run?

Anyway, the center photo of the '84 with the stainless rudder is what I was attempting to copy with my modification to my fiberglass rudder - Note the portion of the rudder which is forward of the pivot point . . . . my fiberglass rudder had none of that, but now it does

It would be very easy to add an inch or two on the forward edge of the rudder for those of you who have the stainless rudders . . . . if you're not happy with the size of the arc your boat makes when you do a U turn. This would also give the helm a lighter feel

Don

[tego]

Howdy Don, I read somewhere on here that Albin started their production run with hull # 100 or 101. You have an old timer! My rudder ('87) is a bronze casting made by Edson, and fairly well balanced. I have a light helm and it turns around in its own length(almost). I really like the way it handles. Yours should be about the same when you're finished. Ben