What to look for when buying a used BR20?

[plasticpaddy]

Hi
Well done on buying your bayraider,
Log on and go to the Forum, select which forum you want, probably technical or general discussion. At the top right you will see a "New Topic" and complete

Sean

[Uluxtax]

Matthew, Graham et al
I'm now the owner of BR20 no 16, built 2008 in GRP  . The problems with the low club boom and the sprayhood thaẗ couldn't pass was caused by too short shrouds which made the mast rake too much. Made new shroud ropes a little bit longer and now eveything works fine.

Discovered that water is leaking out from the ballast tank into the cockipit so a project for next season will be to remove the old sealant and add new, saw a post about that in the forum.

I have problems getting the rudder up and down with the ropes. Any ideas of what can cause this and what I should look for?

Looking forward to some nice sailing trips this year in lake Mälaren and the archipelago of Stockholm.

/ Måns, BR20 no 16 "Pauli"

[Graham W]

Måns,

Congratulations on your purchase and happy sailing!

I can think of three possible reasons for the rudder uphaul/downhaul stiffness (and there may be others):
1.  The uphaul and downhaul strings are the wrong way round, causing friction - see https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,394.msg2042.html#msg2042
2. If there is packing between the rudder and the stainless assembly and pivot bolt, perhaps it has degraded and needs replacing - see https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1001.0.html and the original thread about PTFE washers https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,329.0.html
3.  The pivot bolt itself has been tightened too much and needs to be loosened off a bit.

I’ve never found either string particularly easy to operate and have made it a little better with the help of additional blocks on the tiller cheeks and some mechanical advantage. See the photos of the tiller in this library article for ideas https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/?p=347

[Peter Cockerton]

Three things to add to Graham’s post

Apply water resistant grease to rudder where it swings in and out of stainless fabrication to reduce friction. If ptfe washers have been installed they should be self lubricating but the grease can only help I think.

When raising the rudder try and achieve it in one pulling motion where the swing motion of the rudder aids raising.

Fit a rubber handle grip the sort they use on outboard starter pull chords on both up haul and down haul ropes of the rudder.

These I have found to make my experience with the rudder raising and lowering easier.

Peter C

[Graham W]

When raising the rudder try and achieve it in one pulling motion where the swing motion of the rudder aids raising.

I’ve found that that technique helps with the downhaul too - despite my modifications, fully lowering the rudder still needs quite a lot of effort on my BR20.

Fit a rubber handle grip the sort they use on outboard starter pull chords on both up haul and down haul ropes of the rudder.

Or a large parrel ball. As supplied, the two strings ended in a knot, which didn’t help with grip at all.