SIC F16 Production - Steering tightening bolt corrosion - causes breakage

[Off-Shore]

I was helping putting Railsaver Pro on a friend's SIC F16 Production board, and thought I'd check the steering too, and was checking the tension when the tightening bolt just snapped in my hands. It had corroded through the area where one of the holes was. We always wash our boards in fresh water, so this was strange.

Luckily I had a spare tightening bolt from Maui for my custom F16v3 so I used this to replace the production one. What I noticed is the production one is the same diameter but the area where the holes are is flattened more and therefore wider. in the 2nd picture the custom one is the new bolt (undamaged).

If you have a Production SIC board with similar tightening bolts I'd check if they are corroded and if they are, replace them.

Also always carry a 1/2 section of bicycle inner tire for emergency. This you can jam between the rudder and the board so the rudder is stuck in position if you don't have the locking mechanism on the rudder.

[JF808]

 :osorry to hear that. But, it's probably better you found out now then on the water. By the looks of things it seems that there has been corrosion for quite some time.

throughout the generations of production and customs, I've also noticed some inconsistency with the threaded rod/adjustment nuts used for the steering system. I have been lucky enough to have good beefy threaded rods with metal adjustment nuts. While others I've seen with thinner cheaper looking rods and plastic adjustment nuts.  I did notice that there was a batch of production boards that came with really thin threaded rods, so thing you can easily bend them with your bare hands.  Your right though the customs do come with larger diameter holes in the threaded rods, I know this because I can fit larger diameter steering cables through them vs the production versions. But not all production boards come with less then ideal hardware, it seems to be random.  I've also had friends who have threaded rods breaking with very little time on the water, just poor quality hardware. Again this seems to be super random.

[JF808]

I also wanted to add. every so often I'll spray some corrosion block or any type of rust inhibitor down my cable chases when my board is sitting for a while. You can never tell the conditions of the cables without a visual inspection. You should also make it good practice to replace your cables once a year... I always do. I'm not gonna let lack of maintenance ruin my day in the wind!!

[Off-Shore]

Thanks JF. Good tips there. It is interesting that only one of the bolts had corroded so I am sure it must have been substandard Stainless.. I have had the same cables since I got my F16 from Maui 3 years ago... so maybe time for a change. I actually have a set of cables that they gave me when I visited.

[1paddle2paddle]

Wow, just had this happen to me.  Need to pick up some new ones and get better about taking rust prevention measures.

[covesurfer]

Mark has added a rudder locking pin option on the newer Maui-made boards, could be a real good thing if any steering gear failure occurs.

My Bullet is a few years old and doesn't have the lock out pin. I carry about a 2 foot length of bicycle inner tube with me on the ocean. If a cable or steering adjustor breaks, I can tie the inner tube around the top of the rudder post, jammed under the pulley wheel. It would at least keep the rudder from turning and you could steer the board like a fixed fin. It's good insurance to have on open ocean downwind runs. You can tie a length of the inner tube to one of your paddle loops so it's always on board or keep a piece in your water pack or life jacket pack.

Good reminder to check over my steering gear. We've had a lack of wind and my board's been sitting for weeks. Probably should give it a good once over pretty soon.

[PonoBill]

The plastic nuts are a big improvement. There's almost no quality of commercial stainless that will handle the galvanic corrosion from even slightly dissimilar metals immersed in seawater. It's a crapshoot as to how long they will last. the alloy in the cable is different from the one in the screw, and that makes a little battery, chewing away at the metal.