Hi Paul and Terry
I apologise to everyone else for dragging a thread probably of little general interest to the top of the pile, albeit presumably briefly.
Belatedly, having been preoccupied with re-rigs, moving house etc, I am modifying the rudder mounting on my Storm Petrel along the lines described and illustrated by you both in September last year. I can see that the elimination of the side-to-side play in the steering makes a lot of difference. However, in assembling my new set up I ran into an immediate problem which close examination of your pics hasn't resolved for me. It's doing my head in (to coin an expression no-one has ever used before): help please!
I haven't bolted the third rudder gudgeon on yet. I can only assemble the whole thing by putting the gudgeon in place last, and then the rudder can't be dismounted! Sliding the pin upwards, the extra (upper) brass boss, which you advised would help, comes up against the underneath of the new uppermost rudder gudgeon before the pin frees the lower gudgeon pairs (one each from rudder and sternpost), and so the rudder can't be lifted off. There's a similar problem if I try to lift the rudder off the top of the pin (a continuation of the process illustrated in the last-but-one of your photos posted on 28/9/09). I have tried every which way - I think.
I think the problem must be caused by the much longer sternpost on the S15 than the SP, and the corresponding differences in the distances between the various gudgeons (all the same, having had my difficulty, and from the photos, I can't for the life of me see how you get Iona's rudder off the boat - you don't leave it permanently on, do you??!!). I also think/hope that removal of the extra boss will enable me to slide my new pin upwards enough so that the rudder can be dismounted: fortunately the boss is fastened in place by a sort of spring pin which I can probably knock out.
Am I being a complete idiot? If so, please let me down gently, but if you can tell me what I'm doing wrong, I would be grateful! Then this thread can sink down the lists again. In any case, I doubt whether anyone other than a S15 or SP sailor will have the slightest idea what I'm on about.
Help!