Anyway, I have the dimensioned drawing of the replacement blade from Jefa, but I want to check it against the dimensions of the original Hanse* blade on a wing keel 301 (which is shorter than that on a deep keel 301). Does anybody have the dimensions, principally blade length, or have their wing keel boat out of the water and able to measure it for me?

Cheers all

Huw

*not really a Hanse blade as they outsourced it, and that is the source of all the problems...

Unfortunately she was in process of a reluctant sale (due to change in finances!) but when hauled out for survey the mooring chain had snagged on the wing of the keel (swinging mooring on the Exe but possibly something to be wary of as obviously it's easier to snag than a flat fin / bilge kee.

Anyway long story short she's just finished insurance repairs which included some GRP fairing repair to rudder trailing edge, new pulpit and most notably the rudder stock was bent and rudder damaged so she's just had a new JEFA rudder fitted at the yard in Exmouth.  AS you mention whilst awesome boats, the materials used in the rudder stock and bearing also werent the best so along wtih the damage there was evidence of some wear etc.. and we have replaced bearings as well !! very happy to PM the proposal, noting JEFA were very helpful and have original "stock rudder" design but the yard did note some small measurement differences to adjust on final order.  

Hopefully can assist if needing advice.

You're a lifesaver, incredibly grateful for any info and especially dimensions, I've sent you an email. Speak soon, Cheers, Huw

I have recently found that my rudder blade has a ca. 30cm crack on the front edge. The crack is also quite deep (around 3cm) so I would suspect a water entering the rudder and a freezing damage.

Having read multiple comments about the bad quality of Hanse rudders I am wondering if it is at all worthwhile to repair the rudder or should I go directly to a new Jefa rudder? Does anyone have understanding how big a job it is to fit a Jefa rudder, and how easy it is to change the bearings at the same time?

I have a standard keel 301

I’ve just removed the original rudder from my 301 to check measurements. Came out easily and we think the standard RUD26 from Jefa (with the cutaway for the wing keel boat) will be a direct replacement. We will make new bearings locally. I’m expecting to order the rudder this week and will post updates here.

But really appreciate your findings on how to do it in practise (bearings etc.)!

Was it easy to remove the lower bearing? Is it glued to the hull or just easily removable?

Hi,

Tried removing my rudder this weekend with not so good progress. Removed first all the parts from the deck level, and then tried pulling down the rudder and first 1cm went well, after it got bit tighter and after 1 more cm got really stuck. Tried then putting some WD-40 into the rudder tube from up, and it got it again moving - for another 1cm after which it again got stock (not going up or down or even turning sideways).

My suspection is that the lower bearing has bit surged during the times and now that the "fresh" part of the rudder shaft comes into contact with it, does not anymore move. Any good tips on how to proceed?

Or am I mistaken that even after removing the tiller and the tightening ring from the deck level there is still some additional parts I need to remove to get the rudder to come down?

Alternatively, how the lower bearing is secured and is there option to remove also it if I do not get the shaft otherwise out from the boat.

Appreciating any assistance

I just took my 301 rudder home today, since I have play on the bearing, so was able to take the dimensions of the rudder of my wing keel 301.

The rudder is exactly 1 meter long.

The metal sticking out, to which the helm is connected has a length of 105 cm

The width of the rudder closest to the hull is 36 cm.
The depth of the rudder, closest to the hull is 47 cm

I hope this helps; can send pictures if needed.

Also as pre previous post in the trail their stock rudder and stock were slightly out for stock on WC so msg me if want any more info.

I’m also very reluctantly having to sell her due to personal circumstances so if anyone knows anyone potentially interested that would be great!! Cheers andy

The original plastic bearings were not easy to replace. The easiest was the top one as I removed the top housing completely and then put it in a small hydraulic bearing press to push it out. 

The bottom bearing is a very tight fit with sealant as hard as nails. Probably a sikaflex variant. You can only scrape out the bottom of this which leaves the sides stuck fast.

I found I had to put a large scaffold pipe inside the rudder tube and stand it on the very small lip of the plastic sleeve of the bottom bearing. 

SUPPORT THE HULL AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE RUDDER TUBE FROM THE GROUND. (Very important bearing in mind the next action)

I then used a very heavy club hammer to shock the scaffold pipe from the cockpit.

The bearing eventually came out after some serious blows and lots of Anglo saxon cursing.

IMPORTANT KEEP MOVING THE SCAFFOLD PIPE AROUND THE LIP TO BREAK THE SEAL ALL AROUND THE PLASTIC BEARING.

Good luck!

Steve.

Thanks for the tips, finally got yesterday the bearings out. Top bearing came out quite easily once putting that to a bench vise and applied some force. For the bottom bearing, I ended up sawing a around 1 cm vertical part off carefully (avoiding damaging the aluminum tube), and then the rest of the bearing actually came off quite easily (below some pictures)

As I've mentioned, we unshipped the original Hanse rudder and measured it before ordering from Jefa, thanks to Andy's helpful tipoff that there seems to be a bit of variation in the dimensions of the original rudders. My yard (Windjammer Marine in Milford Haven) were, however, happy that the standard dimensions published for the Jefa RUD26 ( https://jefa.com/ftp/old_boat_spare_parts/Hanse/Hanse_301/Hanse_301_Replacement_Rudder.pdf" rel="nofollow - link ) would fit, so we went ahead and ordered the RUD26 in cutaway form as Karisma is the shallow draft wing keel version of the Hanse 301.

Here are some pictures of the original rudder (in blue)- which I presume to have originally been built by the outsourced Polish yard used by Hanse, although it was subsequently rebuilt when I bought the boat in 2011, side by side with the RUD26 (white). The rudders are not identical, but plenty similar enough.

Overall comparison of the blades

The top of the original is more "flared" than the RUD26.

The tips of the blades are quite similar with the RUD26 looking more hydrodynamic.

In this image you can see a constructional hole that Jefa forgot to fill. We checked with them and filled it with epoxy. Again the profile of the RUD26 and the original are very similar, with the "faired" top of the original making it look chunkier than the Jefa unit.

Fitting was done by the yard and went without problems. The old bearings weren't actually that old, as I'd had them made in 2011 for the old rudder's rebuild, but the yard  got new ones made anyway. Being relatively new the old bearings also came out easily enough. Here are some pics of the rudder shipped in the boat before antifouling:

All seems well and I hope to have many trouble-free years of sailing with it in recompense for all the problems associated with the OEM one.

Costs as of December 2024:

RUD26 cutaway, complete: 2520 EUR/£2162 GBP;

Shipping costs (Jefa use DHL from Denmark) 370 EUR/£317 GBP;

VAT fees on import, paid to DHL: £489.38, and I'll happily pass my bank details to anyone who voted Brexit and would like to compensate me for that.

I can't find the cost for the bearings but it was very modest as they were machined locally. All in, it's just over £3K.

Hope this info is of interest and helps owners in the future.

Cheers

Huw

Hi, very similar experiences from my side, although I remeasured the shaft and made slight alterations to fit the original (if needed, happy to share it). As I have the standard keel so opted also not to cut off the "cut-off" area, but to rather have the full RUD26.

Redid also the bearings from Delrin with a local machinery, but those were very expensive (500€).

Having now sailed 2 months with the new rudder, my feeling is that it has much more grip than the old one. Seems that even in strong upwinds the boat holds much better than with the previous rudder. Also the new bearings make it much more light to steer (when backing, way too light to be honest as the rudder has its own will)

Regarding the costs, seems very aligned. The rudder from Jefa 3600€ (incl transport to Finland and VAT). Plus the new bearings 500€. I got a quote from local boatyard that a rebuild of the old rudder would be 3500€, so seemed like an easy choice to renew all.