Loose Rudder
Peter: I can't check a 320 until Surprise gets hauled (which
could happen today), but on many boats the rudder shaft is a bit aft of the leading
edge of the rudder and so sighting the leading edge is not a reliable way to
tell if the rudder shaft is bent. The pivot can be a bit further aft than this,
and not parallel to the leading edge. As long as there is some point on the
bottom of the rudder that does not move laterally when you turn the rudder then
the shaft is not bent.
Rudders are designed this way to help reduce the stress on
the steering gear when weather helm occurs. The part of the rudder forward of
the shaft actually helps turn the rudder back to centerline a little bit in this
situation. On some boats this effect is fairly pronounced: You can let go of
the helm with 10 degrees of weather helm with absolutely no rounding up. This
is called a "balanced" rudder. Of course it's balanced only in the
sense that you don't have to fight it. The weather
helm is still there, it's just that you can't feel it in the helm.
Scott Thompson
On my
This sounds like your rudder is bent back from a hard grounding. If your tube is sound and the rudder is not binding, you are probably OK. I had to replace mine last year because it bent 4" out of plumb laterally and was binding in the tube from the tube kinking a little as well.
You really can't repair it without cutting and sleeving it. The stainless pipe work hardens from bending and trying to rebend it will make it brittle if it doesn't break.
Chris Burti
"Commitment" Catalina 320, #867,
Peter,
I can't answer all of your questions but I know for a fact that there are no rudder bearings. I have a fax somewhere at the house that I got from Catalina Technical Support her in CA. It shows that it is just a straight tube of fiberglass with a "no adjustment that I can see" stuffing box on top or the rudder log.
Catalina recommends two possible fixes for excess play. 1) fill the tube with epoxy after coating the post with release and 2) using strips of plastic bottles as shims. The idea of droping the rudder, slathering up the post with mold release and then trying to thread the post back into the log hoping not to scrape any of the release onto the parts you want the epoxy to bond to or even worse scrape it off the post and have the epoxy bond the the rudder.
I'm not sure what you do with a boat that has no play in the rudder including no ability to turn it!
I'll try to scan the faxes into a file and post on our site.
Bruce
Somerste 671 SoCal
Re Rudder Post ........ My 1995 C320 also exhibited a slight bit of play when I pushed it back and forth. I don't think this is significant. We also made a visual check to see if it was in line with the keel (it was) and square to the waterline (appeared to be). I then turned the wheel lock to lock several times while an engineer friend sighted the rudder as it turned from directly behind the boat. We also looked down from the top leading edge of the rudder as it turned. We discovered about 4" of side-to-side movement at the base of the rudder. That is, the 'fulcrum point' at the bottom of the rudder should have remained stationary as the rudder turned. It did not. I don't know if this is normal or whether there is a slight bend or warp somewhere in the rudder post. Any thoughts? Still trying to find out if our boats have a rudder bearing or just a fiberglass shaft in which the rudder turns.
Peter Clancy
AROBAN C320 #222,
Larry,
Good question. Mine moves maybe 3/32" but I didn't think that was a problem and the Catalina broker's technician told me not to be concerned about it. I checked a few others in the yard. Some have almost no play and some move more than mine.
JeffC
What is the symptom that indicates a need to shim the rudder post?
Larry
This is essentially the recommended solution often used on older
boats...except we used milk bottles or 2 liter soft drink bottles (better
price-same properties). My old
years now since I shimmed her rudder post.
Chris Burti
"Commitment" Catalina 320, #867,
Today I dropped the rudder 8 inches and put two strips of UHMW tape 1/2" wide by 5-6 inches long up the post with the sticky side towards the fiberglass . This took out all the slop, time will tell how long it will last. It took less than and hour.I was going to machine two thin wall bearings and grind out the tube and glue them in . But the shimming method was simple so we will give it a whirl, I will let the list know how it goes. You can buy UHMW tape at APS. Ken #711 going to Vegas tomorrow to spend the money I saved.