Drill types....always use a cobalt steel drill. Much harder than the fake tungsten type of drill bits. ----L. Hull 189 in Sacramento. -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of DavidCPatterson Patteson Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 8:46 AM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: Keeping my old-style Ida Sail rudder from unshipping I sail in shallow waters often, to extend my sailing space on the little local reservoir, and I have had the problem of touching bottom and having my rudder un-ship. (My rudder is lower than my centerboard.) My solution was to drill a hole in my middle pintle, put a cotter ring in it, and let the grounding force just stretch the rudder's lifting line. Before, with only the top pintle pinned, the rudder would jump out of the lower two gudgeons, then dangle ineffectively in the top gudgeon. A bit disconcerting! I still have to re-tighten the lifting line after touching bottom, but at least I'm not wrestling with trying to reset the pintles in the gudgeons, while sailing at the same time. It only took moments to drill the hole and insert a ring, though the stainless is very hard. David, Cloud Girl, M17 #393 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!