jeff-whoosh-t37 skeg

[kimberlite]

Jeff,
i would love to hear more about the t-37 loosing its skeg. the skeg is glassed in and also bolted with 8 bolts. My supposition is that some previous owner had the skeg removed to do work on the rudder and did not re-install the skeg as was originally done. There is normally no way for the skeg to come off unless you collide with something.
fair winds,
happy holidays,
eric

[Jeff_H]

I don''t know anything about a Tartan 372 losing a skeg. I don''t like the idea of a bolted on skeg as it is very hard to build one that has sufficient strength. If I were designing a boat for myself that had a structural skeg, the skeg would be constucted over a male molds and then installed in a scaboard which then would be glassed into place with knees extending a long distance in four directions.

Jeff

[WHOOSH]

Eric, here is a short reply I received re: your question:

"Re: the Tartan 37 rudder: Tere is a false skeg that is only a water foil ahead of a spade rudder which is designed to break away at the lower support bearing rather than endanger the rudder tube and surrounding hull structure near the transom in a hard grounding at speed...this is good and bad. I gently drifted back onto a coral head and that started the structural weakening of the rudder that eventually caused it to fall apart without further trauma 4 months and 400 miles later. Feel free to give your friend my email address and I''ll be glad to answer any specifics."

You can contact Larry for further info by using kd7krx@winlink.org.

Jack