Hi Guys and Gals,

You ask about P19 rudder castings and blades????

Castings: My boat is a 1986 and still has it's origonal castings .... but I've done the following to them ... I've installed double lock-down springs and filed carefully the lock-down bolt/hook to round the "point" slightly. This allows the bolt/hook to hook easier.

Yah ... there is nothing like being on a "screaming reach" and all of a sudden you can wiggle the rudders and NOTHING happens ... you keep going straight like a rocket!!!! So the new rudders are great, I've never had that problem again ... the extra 4" of rudder length are great.

Here is the problem ... due to the sideways loading on the rudder blades the blades flex ... now the blades are manufactured as two shells then placed in a mold and filled w/ the "white compound?" in the middle, Ok? Now this compound is not very strong in "shear". You see since the blade is deflecting sideways .... one side is longer (outside curve), the other side is shorter (inside curve) ... this generates internal shears. my blades (first set) after maybe 40hrs of sailing started to split along the seam from the top down until I could hold the two sides apart 1/2"-1".

To fix I reglued them together w/ WEST ... next I sanded the gel coat off of the outside down to the "taper" to gain some room ... then I drilled 18-20 3/8" hole from side to side and installed 3/8" wooden dowels to pin the sides together, Ok? After sanding the dowels flush, I used epoxy and 2" tape then re-skinned the top to seal the dowels in to eliminate the seam and further bond the two sides together. I had just used one layer of "tape" on the first attempt to repair and it didn't last but a day or two .... then re-split ...

I've had no further problem ... next I have to fix my second set of blades so as to have a back-up set.

I do still have my origonal P19 blades ... make me an offer.

Next, for my MX upgrade I installed a NACRA 6.0NA bowfoil to help reduce the horizontal loading on the bows and translate them into the vertical axis where the P19 hulls are strongest.

FYI: Last week there was two threads that were/are about P19 ... please read my posts as I mention some of my upgrades for the P19MX there.

Sail Safe, Sail Flat, Sail Fast
Harry Murphey
P19MX w/spin, #86/ CRAC
H18mag #9458 / Fleet 54, Div11