looking for rudder blueprint or measurment / bavaria 350 sportline 1991

[teppycimon]

Hello,
I lost my rudder during my last voyage, apparently due to corrosion on the rudder stock under the lower bearing. However, since then I have been unable to find the plans for my rudder in order to rebuild it. I am in the middle of the Pacific, which complicates matters somewhat, I must admit.

Jefa doesn't have the plans (too old?) for the rudder, and I haven't heard back from Bavaria yet.

If any of you have these plans or a way to obtain them, or a way to measure a rudder of this model, I'd be very grateful.

Also, I was wondering if it's necessary to change the bearings when replacing the rudder?

Thank you in advance.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Happysailor]

This is not going to be an easy one... As I held a Bavaria 300 of the same age in the past, I know the steering system is from Solimar (www.solimar.it) Some ships already were (retro) fitted with Whitlock.
Big question is if the rudder at that time was made by the Bavaria Yard themselves, or an off the shelf product from Solimar or Whitlock. If the yard is not holding any information anymore, I would start to ask around if Some of these companies (even Jefa who started their business around that time) have supplied a complete rudder. For long and shallow keel same ruddertype was used btw...

[teppycimon]

Thanks for this advice, I'll try in this direction and ask those companies directly. First I asked Jefa but they don't have this blueprint, still waiting from Bavaria. Hopefully I'll manage to dig the measurments from decades ago ...
I'll keep you updated.

[Yngmar]

Tough one, as this predates the age of widespread computerization and will have been a drawing on a paper, quite possibly long thrown into some archive box and lost or at least forgotten.

You might have to stick with rebuilding one from photos and whatever illustrations you can find. Definitely possible though.

As for the bearings, it would be silly not to look at them while the rudder is out and the boat on the hard. Based on what you see, you can decide whether to replace or not. If they're that old and corrosion has lost you the rudder, they might well also be compromised.