| The tiller casting at the top of the rudder shaft must be removeable --
otherwise there'd be no way to remove the rudder. Usually the casting is
clamped or bolted or both to the rudder shaft. Once you have the casting
off the solution should not be difficult. The play may simply be due to
the casting clamp bolt or through bolt not being tight enough. Solution
here is to tighten up whatever is loose. Or the hole in the casting may
be oversize. Get some brass shim stock (at a hobby shop), fit it
between the rudder shaft and the tiller casting, and retighten. Or you
could use a good epoxy to the fill the excess gap. Thoroughly clean and
sandpaper the rudder post, wax the tiller casting (so you don't
permanently glue everything together -- the tiller casting is probably
bronze, and getting epoxy to adhere to bronze is difficult), slather
some epoxy with a filler onto the rudder post, reinstall the casting,
and clean up the excess epoxy. I would think that your problem could be
solved without actually removing the rudder.
I assume that when you first move the tiller that the rudder shaft isn't
moving. If the rudder is moving on the rudder shaft then you have a
seriously defective rudder. I also assume that you are talking about
side to side play in the tiller. Depending on the age of the boat and
how much it has been sailed, the rudder shaft bearings may be
excessively worn (quite possible with spade rudders). If so, you will be
able to move the rudder fore and aft and/or sideways somewhat. It should
only rotate.
Alan
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Having replaced the bearings twice, I have written down
the steps for fixing the slop in the Pearson 26/28/30. The tube that
the rudder resides in has replaceable bearings at each end. These are
held in place by compression between the rudder, the rudder tube, and
the rudder cap. When the rudder bearings wear out they allow the
rudder to bounce around, or start turning in the tubes. This is
where you get "slop". Wait too long and you can elongate and then
break the tube which is below the water line.
The solution is to pull the rudder, pry out the old bearings, and
glue in new ones. Time to do this is about 2 hours if you know what you
are doing to 4-6 hours if you don't. You should get a helper, as the
rudder weighs between 90-110 lbs and it is extremely awkward to handle.
If you are doing this in the middle of the season, make sure the epoxy
has hardened before immersing the bearings, and leave a them alone for
a day before loading them.
Things to remember:
A. The new bearings are black delrin instead of nylon and they last a
lot longer.
B. The bearings have flat sides on outside. you need to jam epoxy
or marine tex into there to keep them from rotating. It will not
really adhere to the delrin. The expoxy will adhere to the rudder
shaft, so coat the rudder shaft with car or boat wax before reinstalling.
C: Once you get everything assembled and hardened (ie next day). adjust
the rudder cap to get the slop out. I make thin shims by cuting
spacers (using the old spacer for a template) out of plastic sheet
(I use old antifreeze or bleach bottles). you take off the tiller.
toss a couple of shims on top of the cap, and then tie a line from
the tiller hole to the boom end. You tension the rudder by attaching the
main halyard to the boom end and cranking on it. Now you can remove the
cap even on the water and add shims until you get a nice tight fit (you
squeeze the shims past the cap and spacer) . Reassemble and only then
take off the rope, else your rudder will slip into the ocean faster
than you can say Ahhh S*&^ ! . For best results, put the shims between
the cap and the factory spacer so they do not distort under load. This
tip is esspecially important on older tiller shafts, as the tight bearing
will "lock" into place on the wear marks of the rudder shaft. should
that happen, the weight of rudder could cause the epoxy to fail.
Note: This tip can be used to temporarily get the slop out of a bad
rudder (ie down to 1-2" at the tiller).
The helm will feel tight to begin with. It will loosen up a bit
after a couple of hours of use. Now your Pearson 26 will respond to
the helm like a dingy.If not, see my suggestions at the conclusion
for other tricks.
MATERIALS:
CONTAINER OF MARINE TEX (will not drip out of place on upper bearing)
NEW BEARING SET (D&R MARINE, ANNOSET MASS)
COURSE SANDPAPER (80 GRIT)
400 WET DRY SANDPAPER
CAR or BOAT WAX
MASKING TAPE
TOUNGE DEPRESSERS (mixing marine tex)
CARDBOARD FOR MIXING
1 12' PIECE OF JUNK LOW STRETCH 3/8" LINE
ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS
RUBBER GLOVES
WD 40
LADDER
PAN OF BOILING WATER
SOCKET SET (to remove cap)
LARGE WRENCHES (to remove tiller and cap)
LARGE FLAT SCREWDRIVER (for prying out bearings)
HAMMER (when screwdriver is not enough)
1 inch wood chisel.
acetone (cleaning up)
STEPS:
YOU NEED TO GET BOAT'S KEEL 2.5-3 FEET OFF GROUND. IF IN SEASON, YOU
CAN LEAVE IT IN THE LIFT'S SLING.
BOIL BEARINGS IN HOT WATER TO EXPAND THEM
ATTACH MAIN HALYARD TO END OF BOOM
UNBOLT TILLER ASSEMBLY
ATTACH END OF junK LINE TO TILLER HOLE
UNBOLT RUDDER COLLAR
CAREFULLY LOWER AND PULL BACKWARDS TO GET RUDDER OUT
CUT OUT OLD BEARINGS WITH CHISEL AND HAMMER
(be careful not to damage the rudder tube).
CHISEL OUT OLD EPOXY THAT HELD BEARING (BE CAREFUL NOT TO NICK TUBE)
SAND INSIDE OF TUBE LIGHTLY WITH COURSE SANDPAPER, CLEAN OUT DUST &
SWAB WITH acetone.
SAND RUDDER WITH WET DRY 600 SANDPAPER UNTIL SMOOTH
APPLY MASKING TAPE OUTSIDE AREAS ADJACENT TO BEARING (HULL AND DECK)
WAX RUDDER SHAFT WITH CAR WAX SO EXTRA EPOXY CANNOT STICK TO IT
DRY OFF HEATED LOWER BEARING AND DRIVE CAREFULLY ONTO RUDDER. USE
WD40 TO LUBRICATE. THIS IS A VERY TIGHT FIT. THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS
IS TO USE A PIPE WITH AN INSIDE DIAMETER JUST BIGGER THAN RUDDER SHAFT
TO DRIVE IT ON. ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE IS TO PUT THE OLD BEARING OVER
THE TOP AND TAP WITH A HAMMER.
DRY OFF RUDDER SHAFT AND REWAX. CLEAN OUTSIDE OF BEARING WITH acetone.
UNTIE JUNK LINE, FEED FROM TOP OF TUBE, AND REATTACH TO TILLER HOLE
AFTER YOU HAVE LIFTED RUDDER UP NEAR OPENING.
MIX MARINE TEX WITH TONGUE DEPRESSER AND APPLY TO LOWER BEARING
AND TUBE..
SLOWLY FEED RUDDER UP HOLE. A PERSON PULLING LINE FROM THE TOP MAKES
THIS PROCESS MUCH EASIER.
USING THE MAIN HALYARD ON MAST WINCH, CRANK BOOM/RUDDER UP INTO
POSITION AND SECURE.
DRY UPPER BEARING AND SPACER BEFORE RUBBING WD40 ON INSIDE OF BEARING.
CLEAN OUTSIDE OF BEARING WITH acetone.
SLIP UPPER BEARING, SPACER, AND COLLAR OVER TOP OF RUDDER.
RETIE OTHER END OF LINE TO BOOM.
APPLY MARINE TEX TO OUTSIDE OF UPPER BEARING AND DRIVE INTO PLACE.
THE BEST METHOD IS TO TAP THE ALUMN. COLLAR TO GENTLY TAP IT DOWN.
BOLT UP RUDDER COLLAR AFTER ADJUSTING TENSION. BE CAREFUL NOT TO
SPIN BEARINGS IN TUBE. LEAVE TENSION ON RUDDER UNTIL MARINE TEX IS SET.
CLEAN UP EXCESS MARINE TEX WITH PAPER TOWELS AND acetone.
REMOVE MASKING TAPE APPLIED EARLIER
BOAT CAN BE PUT BACK IN WATER ONCE MARINE TEX HAS SET (APPX 4-6 HRS)
AFTER MARINE TEX HAS DRIED (AROUND 24 HRS):
CHECK CLEARANCE AT COLLAR. ADJUST TO GET RID OF SLOP. USE SHIMS
IF NECCESSARY.
RELEASE MAIN HALYARD, REMOVE JUNK LINE, AND REATTACH TILLER
TIE DOWN TILLER TO STOP ANY MOVEMENT .
IF THE TILLER STILL HAS PLAY, BUT THE RUDDER IS SOLID,
YOU CAN TRY BUILDING A LONG SPACER BY DRILLING A BOLT HOLE IN THE
PROPER THICKNESS STAINLESS STEEL TO FIT BETWEEN THE RUDDER SHAFT AND
THE TILLER CONNECTOR. I USE SMALL SAILBOAT TANGS (MARINE
EXCHANGE, PEABODY MA $4). IF THE HOLE IN THE RUDDER HAS ELONGATED
BECAUSE OF THE THREADS, I SUGGEST GOING UP 1 SIZE ON THE TILLER
BOLT, AND REDRILLING USING A MACHINE PRESS, AS YOU HAVE TO ALIGN
THE TILLER CONNECTOR WITH THE RUDDER. USE BOLTS THAT DO NOT HAVE
THREADS FOR THE FIRST 2.5 INCHES, ELSE IT WILL CHEW UP THE RUDDER
STOCK AGAIN. YOU CAN ORDER THESE FOR APPX $3 FROM JAMESTOWN DISTRIB
IN R.I.
KEEP THE OLD SPACER IF IT IS OK. SOMETIMES THEY CRACK, OR YOU NEED
A TEMPLATE TO MAKE SHIMS. THEN YOU WILL BE HAPPY YOU SAVED IT.
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