I did the epoxy fill trick

Posted By: GeorgeSK - P-23 "DayDream", P-15 "Pxyis"
Date: 7/20/08 8:12p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: One solution for the slop..... (Tim, P18 "Spirit" Iowa City)

and it helped quite a bit. I used West System, and used graphite/silica//1/1 as my filler. I also sprang for an adjustable reamer to get the hole as accurate as possible. I couldn't figure out any way of absolutely ensuring alignment between bottom and top, and ended up just going for it and doing OK. I found, however, that most of my slop was due to the pintle pin being loose. In my case it was the cracked SS around the bottom of the lower pintle. Sometimes it is just one of the spot welds on the pin itself. Give the pintles a good, careful look-see. Yet another problem spot seems to be the rudder blade itself. That still has a bit of play that I need to address. My first volley will be to simply tighten the pivot bolt, but if that doesn't work, I believe a couple of nylon or polyethylene shims will solve the problem.