dmtparkerLcsk53

First, my sincere apologies for not responding to your note. I didn't know that I had a message waiting until a few moments ago when I went to the CP section.

I hope your repair has been successful. So far ours has worked well. We are in Grenada for summer haul-out and I place to drop the rudders and check the area of the shaft directly above the rudder - where our failure occurred. One task I did complete shortly after installation of the new rudder was to check connections, including adding new ground wires, for all metal surfaces in the water.

Best wishes

Pete

I have a 2004 F-P Belize 43. This summer, I thought the auto-pilot was having a very hard time, but we were in heavy quartering seas and it is an old autopilot without the newer 'smart' technology. Then while at our dock in Panama, we suffered a lightning strike that wiped out most of the electronics. When I went in the water to check the hull, I found the stbd rudder gone - just like you. I have a stub of shaft ~5" long sticking down from the hull that has marine growth on it, so it has been a while. The shaft has what looks like a 3/8" hole through it (but probably metric). Do you know how the rudder is attached to the shaft? How did your repair work out? Do you have the part number for a new rudder from F-P? or a link to where I could find one? Anything that might help would be appreciated!!