Rudder failure on new OC43s

[negrini]

Guys, I own hull #64 and waiting for hurricane season ends to bring my boat down here. A friend of mine, OC43 hull #66 went from Charleston to Bermuda last week and had a severe rudder failure on fiber lamination near rudder post. Have any of you heard or experienced such failure ?

[negrini]

OK, just spoke to the owner that had a stop into Bermudas. As far as I understood, there is an assembling mistake done at ruder post upper bearings. As per owner told me, Beneteau changed the original project and designed another collar around ruder bearing, but it should had to be filed with epoxy glued to the hull, but production is skiping the filling part, leaving just a collar around the rudder post not bonded properly. Another OC40 inspected and has same missing epoxy filling. Those two boats are taking pictures and talking to Beneteau, and once I have it will share. Owner told me also that Beneteau has never ocurred such rudder failure before and indicate this is an isolated case. Anyway, OC 43 and OC40 are under repair, and they are reinforcing the post bearings with epoxy.

[camaraderie]

Negrini....thanks for posting this. Very critical info!! If you would like to compose a separate "Alert to Beneteau Owners" with the specifics, I will be happy to make it a sticky note for all to see.
We can also post Beneteaus response there once it gets sorted out.

[negrini]

Great Cam, once I have real stuffs (photo, papers, etc) will post here then we decide and invite Beneteau (I know sales guys) to post response. I hope to have it in a couple of days ....

[CanDrac]

Negrini,

Thanks for the heads up!
Do you have any photos?

-franc
Beneteau 43 hull 53
S/V Can Drac

[mdbee]

Sailnet might be at risk of a lawsuit from Beneteau if this thread isn't promptly removed.

[negrini]

The failure is anything particular to the OC43, as OC40 have same system and same mounting. The only explanation my friend got still points to an isolated case. So far, Beneteau did not provide any official communication about the rudder failure on hull #66, but issued a Service Bulletin to increase the resilience at upper rudder post bearings. I don't know if such bulletin apply to every OC series, or from a specific number, neither if this is a specific to these boats. Anyway, my hull #66 is preventatively under service, despite not showing any sign of failure.

So far, nobody reported any analisys on what happened. We don't know if the system was damaged by the autopilot engaged under heavy load, nor if the boat hit anything submerged, or this is a design/mounting failure.

Check here the failed rudder. The upper post became loose, so skipper attached a line, disconnected the autopilot, in order to not further damage the rudder system.



Note the loose upper bearing. The mirror shows behind, in a difficult spot.



After repair started, you can see the upper collar removed. Note how it was pulled out of original bond to the hull.



Now, new bearing is re-inserted, but its void around it, will be completely filed with epoxy to increase the bond to the hull.



Note the epoxy mask on the wood. At least, looks far more robust.



Final touch. Another plastic ring screwed to the wood, brings even more hardening to the original system.

[Bene505]

Thanks for posting this.

[deniswfoster]

Hello,

Do you have more information on this rudder problem for example the service note from Beneteau?

I have hull n°77 and I know other Oceanis 43 had problems with the fixation of the tablet for the autopilot that gets loose.

Thank you for your help

Denis

[negrini]

Sorry, but I have the service note just for the bulkhead that gets loose from the rudder system. Drop a call to your dealer, as this problem is very easy to repair by reinforcing the upper bearings. We had another 43 and one 40 with exact same failure !!