Just a cautionary note. A few months ago my son and I put some plastic "washers" either side of the rudder in the rudder stock to reduce the play. last week we were out in the boat most of the week including an exciting sail out through Chicester Harbour with fresh wind against tide and then along to Portsmouth and back through Langstone harbour.
When I got the boat out of the water on its trailer I notice the bolt through the rudder stock was hanging out about 5 cm and had nearly fallen out because the nut had come off. If this had come out while we were going out of Chichester Harbour it could have been a disaster.
We now think that when we put in the washers it was all a bit tight so we slackened the nut a bit.
So the message is check your rudder bolts am make sure the nut is on tightly. We are now going to put on a longer bolt with two lock nuts and a split pin to hold it. One cannot afford for the rudder to fall off!
