Quest To Fix My Shattered Rudder.
March 31st 2013: After eating Easter lunch and gazing at the wind blowing the trees around, friends and I decided to set sail for a few hours. I should mention when I purchased the boat I was informed there was a crack in my rudder from the manufacturer. This was sent back to Catalina and they promptly fixed it and sent it back. When I bought the boat I looked over everything and that rudder looked flawless. I suspect it has come back to haunt me. We were sailing in slightly above average winds. Skythen was heeling over well on that fateful day. However, on a normal tack nothing special I heard something fluttering. It sounded much like a baseball card in a bicycle wheel. I looked back from mid boat after freeing a sail and I saw what looked to be a crack going the the front of the rudder. I called back to Shawn who was steering and he promptly let me know it was indeed cracked. I immediately dropped sail and powered up the motor, yanked the rudder out and see a perfect crack running all the way around my rudder.
April 1st 2013: Contacted Catalina Yachts and was put into contact with Warren. Nice guy, he is working with sending over pictures of my rudder over to an engineer to see what they can do. He did mention the warranty is 5 years and this is a 2006 Catalina. He will be trying to get someone to investigate when the work was done to my rudder and see if my warranty somehow is still available.
Also, put a post on Reddit to see if they had some ideas whether I should try to get the repaired or replaced. Most seem to want me to fix it, however, I believe that it will just shatter again. Definitely so if this is still related to what caused this in the first place. Here is a link to that post. Reddit Rudder
Catalina Direct has a possible affordable solid core high density plastic replacement for about 700 dollars.
Replacement
Also, put a post on Reddit to see if they had some ideas whether I should try to get the repaired or replaced. Most seem to want me to fix it, however, I believe that it will just shatter again. Definitely so if this is still related to what caused this in the first place. Here is a link to that post. Reddit Rudder
Catalina Direct has a possible affordable solid core high density plastic replacement for about 700 dollars.
Replacement
April 2nd / 3rd 2013: Received a picture of the original owner of the boat. He says it was shipped directly to him from Catalina and the rudder had the crack running straight down. He hand carried it in to St Pete he said but wasn't 100% sure. Catalina repaired it there and he picked it back up (Did not replace, repaired). Please keep in mind he did not sail his boat anywhere near as often as I do, so I do not feel it was tested quite as well before my purchase. Here is the picture of the original state of the rudder.
If you compare this crack to the one that I have now from sailing it is pretty evident that the repair did not hold.
I sent the photo to Warren from Catalina and he promptly agreed that if I am able to get this to them in Largo that they are likely to fix it for little or no cost. As long as there is no obvious impact damage on the rudder.
When all this originally happened I called both numbers on Catalina's website. One is for LA and one for FL. I received a call last night from a grumpy older gentleman who was majorly defensive. He was returning my voicemail that I left. He is very hung up on the 5 year warranty offered on these parts. He wouldn't even TALK about whether or not they would repair this and became irate when I told him Warren said they will fix it for little or no cost. Basically what it all boils down to is I think he is a meddler and he intends to throw a wrench in our current agreement at any cost. I mentioned the photographic evidence and he said he will NOT discuss anything until he sees them and even after that it is not likely they will do anything to help me. I have sent the rudder to Warren at a charge over 100 dollars to get repaired already and the grumpy old man says that is my choice and at my own risk. I have a link to my latest Reddit post. Reddit
I sent the photo to Warren from Catalina and he promptly agreed that if I am able to get this to them in Largo that they are likely to fix it for little or no cost. As long as there is no obvious impact damage on the rudder.
When all this originally happened I called both numbers on Catalina's website. One is for LA and one for FL. I received a call last night from a grumpy older gentleman who was majorly defensive. He was returning my voicemail that I left. He is very hung up on the 5 year warranty offered on these parts. He wouldn't even TALK about whether or not they would repair this and became irate when I told him Warren said they will fix it for little or no cost. Basically what it all boils down to is I think he is a meddler and he intends to throw a wrench in our current agreement at any cost. I mentioned the photographic evidence and he said he will NOT discuss anything until he sees them and even after that it is not likely they will do anything to help me. I have sent the rudder to Warren at a charge over 100 dollars to get repaired already and the grumpy old man says that is my choice and at my own risk. I have a link to my latest Reddit post. Reddit
Have you ever seen something so glorious? Man did this come just in time for the Mug Race. Some information on what happened. First, the grumpy old man turned out to be Frank the founder of Catalina. In the end the head engineer of Catalina decided that it should be replaced completely, not repaired. This was handled outside of warranty but I must stress they only made this exception because the previous rudder had cracks from the factory that were obviously never truly fixed. I had to pay only shipping to have this returned to me. I must say, my respect for this company has grown ten fold. How often do you find someone willing to do the right thing even when they could have easily declined me and walked away. Warren and Frank, I thank you for taking care of me.