Pahi 42 rudders

[John Madgwick]

I purchased my Pahi 42 in 2004. 'Splash' was built in Nelson, New Zealand in the late 1990's by Keith and Maddy Rowan. They did a great job and I have had few issues. In 2019 my wife, youngest son and I spent 4 months sailing around the North Island (of NZ). Half way through the trip we had an issue with the metalwork on our port rudder. There are anodes on the base of each skeg and on the base of each rudder. Both the anodes on the port side were used up, the anodes on the starboard side were as new. The metalwork on the port skeg and the metalwork on the port rudder was very corroded. All four anodes had been replaced regularly at the same time. We had to have a new port rudder made and also the metalwork at the base of the port skeg replaced. Of course we checked all the metalwork on the starboard rudder and it appeared to be 'as new'. Earlier this month we noticed the anode at the base of the starboard rudder was half used up, all the other three anodes were as new. 

I am interested to learn if any other Pahi 42 owners have had issues with their rudders.

[Andy Best-Dunkley]

On our rudders all the metalwork is encased within the rudder. The leading edge where the shaft/tube is, is wrapped round with glass cloth, as is the whole rudder. There are actually no anodes on the hulls anywhere, the only pieces of metal permanently in the water are the rudder pintles. I've never really thought about it - maybe I should have. The rudder tube/shaft doesn't appear to have any corrosion, I have checked them a number of times. Boat was completed in 1988 and has only sailed in the Baltic so far. Brackish water.