Gazela Preservation Efforts

Rudder

Shortly before the Gazela and its crew of thirty were to depart on a weekend training sail, stiffness was detected in the steering gear. A diver was sent down to check the rudder. His survey revealed that the lower two-thirds of the rudder appeared to be jammed against the sternpost. The weekend trip as well as a trip to the Newport Wooden Boat Show was cancelled and work immediately began to clarify the situation.

September 24th - Repaired rudder installed and new rudder transferred into the Poplar, our work barge. Thackray Crane returned once again to provide the crane lifts. Thanks also to Dan Nelson, who is surveying the dock at Penn's Landing and checked the alignment and pintles for us.

September 17th - The full Guild Board approves the hanging of the old rudder with the fixed post. However, the agreement is that the ship can only operate in the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay. No ocean trips until the new rudder is installed.

September 15th - White Oak delivered from Heacock Lumber to job site.

September 6th - Given the circumstances, a decision is made to both 1) repair the top of the rudder post with new white oak and 2) to build a new rudder. This path will avoid the possible breakage of the old pintles while buying time to raise the estimated $25,000 to get hauled out and mount a new rudder. It also will allow Gazela to drive to the yard, rather than be towed. Towing would cost $350-$450 per hour to get down to Norfolk plus the tug's return trip.

September 5th - We consulted with a Charles McMahon, an engineering professor from the University of Pennsylvania about the pintles and the bronze in which they were cast. We found that the only way to check the structural integrity of the pintles was to remove them from the rudder and x-ray them. However, the straps of the pintles taper from 11.25" down to 8.25". Prying the straps apart could very well break the casting.

August 26th - Thackray Crane provides the lift to get the 24 foot long, 3200 pound rudder from the float to the work area. Copper is stripped off and the wood evaluated. The post is the primary problem. The pintles and rudder blade wood look solid. The rudder was built from three pieces of stone pine, with the shipwrights estimating that the rudder post was fashioned from a 4 foot diameter tree. The challenge is that the pintles are probably 70 years old and will be a challenge to remove.

August 24th - The steering gear removed, a crew unships the rudder using chain falls from under the counter. The rudder is laid on a work float, awaiting a crane to place it on land.

August 23rd - It is found that the bearing in the pilothouse is seized to the plate. Once the bearing is broken free, the rudder swings freely. However, the top of the rudder post has fractured.

August 19th - While some volunteers began disassembling the steering gear, others rigged up an underwater camera on a pole and shot a video detailing the pintles, and gudgeons.