DIY Boat Pintle

Pintles and gudgeons are the hinges of a boat's rudder.

Making your own pintle (the hinge pin of the rudder) to fit into an existing gudgeon (the bracket that the hinge pin fits into) isn't a common boating project, unless you're building your own boat. In fact, modern steering systems have replaced the top pintle with hydraulic rams or other systems to control the rudder, meaning that the pintle often appears on home-built boats that have a tiller, rather than a wheel, like small sail boats. A wooden pintle, like those of a wooden ship, swells into the hole in its base. Metal pintles are welded.

Things You'll Need

• Chop saw
• Oak
• Aluminum
• Steel
• Caliper
• Calculator
• Drill press
• Marine silicone adhesive
• Welding machine

Instructions

1. Cut an equal-sided triangle from the same material that the gudgeons are made from as the pintle base. Each side of the base should be equal to the width of the forward edge of the rudder. The material should equal a 1/2 inch less than the distance between the rudder and the gudgeons. If the gudgeons are steel or aluminum, the triangle should be of steel or aluminum, cut with a saw equipped with a blade suitable for cutting that material. If the gudgeons are wooden, the pintle should be cut from oak with a saw equipped with a blade suitable for wood.

2. Measure the hole in the gudgeons with calipers. The pintle should be cut from a dowel 1/4 inch smaller than the hole in the gudgeons, if there is no bearing raceway in the gudgeon. If there is a bearing raceway in the gudgeon, the pintle should be 1/8 inch less in diameter than the diameter of the opening for the pintle in the bearing.

3. Multiply the length of the vessel by 0.001 with your calculator. Cut the dowel--whether oak, steel, or aluminum-- that forms the pintle to a length equal to 1 percent of the length of the vessel. For example, a 20-foot vessel should have a pintle 2.4 inches long.

4. Drill a hole in the center of the pintle base with a drill press. Make the hole 1/64 inch larger than the diameter of the dowel. Fill the hole with marine silicone adhesive. Insert the dowel into the hole. Weld the dowel in place, if metal. Drill holes large enough for the rudder screws halfway between the dowel of the pintle and the corners of the triangular pintle base.

5. Attach the top pintle to the rudder with the screws from the rudder. Set the rudder in place by poking the top pintle through the top gudgeon. Set the bottom pintle in place and slide the rudder onto the pintle base. Secure the bottom pintle to the rudder with the screws from the rudder.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that the tiller, control cables or rams are attached to the body of the rudder, not to the top pintle.

• This project involves using potentially dangerous tools. Appropriate caution is urged.