It's surprising that there were no mechanical fasteners.
If you duplicate the metal "box" seen on the other boat, I'd go up a thickness on the material. While the SS plate on deck is impressive, I assume the box underneath is aluminum and it looks light, especially with its open end.
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Last edited by BobJ; 07-16-2019 at 09:06 AM.
Wow... that's a beautiful solution! If that a custom fabrication, or something available from a manufacturer?
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Interesting... surprised the upper rudder bearing is not affixed to the cockpit sole... so its putting the sole in compression in the direction the sole is strongest... the way most boats do it. This "box" below the sole so the bearing is torquing the box - puts a lot of force into tension on an epoxy bond. And the distance between the upper and lower bearings made shorter then if the upper bearing was affixed to the sole... dramatically increasing the forces on the upper bearing. I wonder if this is all about a sole mounted bearing being more expensive then they wanted to pay (complex larger casting?).
Check out Bill Leary's excellent Safety at Sea Seminar. Note the Hinckley 42 sister to SEA WISDOM, ALCYONE from Santa Cruz, lost its upper rudder bearing in the Pac Cup and had to be towed to Hawaii. $$$
https://pacificcup.org/sites/default...rol%202016.pdf