Triton Pintles and Gudgeons

[Triton439]

What sources is everyone using to obtain replacement pintles and gudgeons for their East Coast Tritons.

Matt

[Eric]

I used the Schaefer stainless pintles after drilling out the original bronze gudgeons to take the Schaefer plastic bushings. This was a quick and relatively inexpensive fix. No metal to metal contact and no sign of a problem after 4 seasons.



Good luck!

-- Eric

[Hulukupu]

Great looking rudder, too, Eric. What's its history?

[Eric]

Great looking rudder, too, Eric. What's its history?

It came with the boat and I assume it is original. Here it is when I first bought it...



I dropped it to replace the rudder shaft bushing and tighten up the well-worn pintles and gudgeons. The surface of the laminate was pretty rough and after stripping it, I discovered that it was covered by fragile polyester filled pits and I ended up spending a couple of evenings chipping out all of these, getting down to a dependable service. I've started this process in the next pic--the dark areas have yet to be scraped out.



After this and a quick check of the shaft bolts, I faired the surface with epoxy filler and then a two part barrier coat to provide a hard surface and interface to my favorite bottom paint--cheap.

-- E

[Rachel]

I think the original Triton rudders (that I've seen anyway) were more "ear-shaped" and the top of the ear would fit into that slight notch in the counter (through which you can see yellow in your "when I first bought it" photo).





I suppose the stock rudder could have changed in very late Tritons though, and they just kept the notch in the counter (?), but I suspect that the overlap in yours indicates a replacement rudder.

I have seen drawings showing a more squared off rudder that Alberg supposedly drew later, but I don't know if that was ever used on production boats. On that one the top edge did fit into the notch though:



Rachel

PS: Edited to improve images/sizes.

[Tim]

That squared rudder seen in that so-called "Mark II" drawing was never used in production. That whole drawing differs from the original Triton drawings in subtle ways--the waterline is longer, and the shape of the counter is different, particularly at the waterline and directly beneath.

There's a full explanation of how this drawing came to be somewhere, but I can't recall where at the moment. I thought it was something to do with Alberg being asked to recreate the Triton lines, but not technically owning the design, so the original lines couldn't be published (at that time). He took that opportunity to massage the original design slightly to bring things more into keeping with the "modern" thinking of the time.

Eric's rudder is clearly an owner modification from sometime. It's very different from the original rudder shape.

[Eric]

That squared rudder seen in that so-called "Mark II" drawing was never used in production.

I've wondered about this, having seen both sets of drawings. #635 was owned by a fellow on Long Island who reportedly sailed it to Bermuda (according to the brokerage listing that came with the provenances associated with the boat.) I'm guessing that it was he who replaced the single backstay with twins (one with SSB antenna) and perhaps this was another of his preparations...

Anyway, I can report that the rudder works very well, but, quickly becomes a handful when backing.

-- E