You do not need to pull the rudder from the boat to accomplish the cut down rudder. There is a thread from years back with pictures of the before and after of the process. There is a template around for the process of cutting it down and it can be done with the rudder in place. Ken Hilton at Standish has one for sure. There is a huge improvement in handling once this is done.recppd wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2017 11:24 pm I brought my 19x19 LH Teignbridge prop up to H&H Propeller in Salem, MA today for reconditioning. It's the original prop on my 2004 28 FD and it needed some minor repairs. H&H machined most of the Albin 28 shafts, rudders and props that we all have in our boats today. My prop was even stamped with H&H and their serial number, and yours is probably too (edge of hub). We even agreed it was best to bring it down to a 19 x 18 pitch to boost the RPMs and put less load on the Yanmar 315. Apparently, Albin did this with the last year's models of 28's.
I also asked about my rudder because my boat has the big barn door version, not the smaller one. At high speeds its hard to turn, which wears on the Sea Star cylinder. My next move is to remove the rudder and have it reshaped to the smaller version for easier steering. As it was explained to me, the current rudder doesn't have enough counter balance in the front, meaning it doesn't have the approx. 18% of rudder it needs aft of the rudder shaft to counter balance the prop wash. This is why steering can be very difficult or 28 owners at higher speeds. The fix is to cut down the rudder to make up for the lack in the front. Now all I have to do is figure out how to successfully dismantle the rudder and shaft from the skeg...
Jack
