Rudder Fell out underway.
 

I have a friend that owns a Nautique 226 that he recently purchased used. When he bought it, the boat appeared to be meticulously maintained from a person with more than enough means to do so and keep it that way.

Anyway, he was pulling his kids on a tube around the lake and immediately lost all rudder authority on the boat. I was not on the boat, but it appears the rudder suddenly just fell out. They got the boat stopped without issue and used a towel to Plug the hole as they were obviously taking on water fast. The boat was towed to a dock and put on the trailer without further incident. He did reflect that the boat seemed difficult to steer, but was under the impression that was the way it was.

With that said, does this sound like something that just happens? I am not an expert on his boat, or rudder connections in General. It seems to me this could have been cause by faulty Maintenance, Parts, or Sabotage.
The question I have is, how probable is it for the rudder to just fall out?


Thanks.

Previous owner may have been a power-turning 🤡 and weakened the rudder shaft.

If turning a boat under power weakens the rudder, I would not buy a product from that company.... EVER.

agreed. The rudder should NEVER fall out. Sure he didn't hit something?

No, he did not hit anything... However, when the boat was purchased, it did not have the correct trailer for the boat. The trailer that it was on did not have the prop/rudder protection bar that is on the standard boatmate style trailer. The boat was shipped across country in that way. When the shipper dropped the boat off he noticed the trailer was the wrong type. It was an oversight on his part as he was more interested/focused on the boat condition than the trailer and simply didn't realize this was not correct trailer for that boat.
That said, when the boat was delivered, we were all looking at it and noticed that fact that it was on the incorrect trailer. The prop was not struck nor was there any noticeable scaping on bottom of the rudder. It was assumed that it did not hit. With the lesson learned about buying used and remote, he then bought a brand new trailer for it.

Looking at whats left of the rudder at the end of the tiller arm, will tell alot. Did it break or did the tiller arm bolt break or come out.

they fall off when you hit something. no, rudders do not just fall off and end up at bottom of the lake leaving a hole where there was once a rudder.

BTW you can use a wakeboard as a rudder when they magically fall off....

I think I found the problem right here...

At least he wasn't wakesurfing.

Just to give you an example, I struck an object so hard once that I snapped the rudder on my Xstar in two. And the base of the rudder still did not detach from the vessel. Thy should never fall off.

You don't need a rudder to wakesurf. Boats just wander aimlessly throwing rollers anywhere and everywhere... No rudder needed.