Bavaria Rudder Bearings Replacement Cost

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hennypenny

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Hi All, happy new year.

In the process of buying a new boat. The survey has picked up on a few points one of which is the rudder bearings need replacing as there is quite a bit of play in the rudder.

Would anyone have a ballpark figure on how much this is likely to cost as I would like to use this as one of my renegotiating points.

Thanks all!
 
You would have to know what they are, proprietary rudder bearing races made by Jefa, Edson etc or Delrin/Acetal bushes. Expensive, cheap. Without knowing the size of boat difficult to say but in the first case hundreds if not thousands of pounds in the second a hundred or two. There would also be the cost of removing and replacing the rudder which may also involve the cost of at least one lift, then there's labour costs. Broadly you might be looking at a few thousand or a few hundred. I made my own rollers and did the job myself for about £50.
 
Your surveyor should be able to give you a ball park figure or direct you to a shipwright who can. Most Bavarias (but not all) have a simple lower bearing that if it is just worn is not difficult or expensive to replace.

However you don't give enough details to give even an educated guess, hence the need to get somebody qualified to look at the boat.
 
hennypenny said:
Hi All, happy new year.

In the process of buying a new boat. The survey has picked up on a few points one of which is the rudder bearings need replacing as there is quite a bit of play in the rudder.

Would anyone have a ballpark figure on how much this is likely to cost as I would like to use this as one of my renegotiating points.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Hi - i bought a Bavaria with "excessive play in the rudder bearings" (picked up on survey) surveyor was knowledgeable and thought it was the bottom bearing as Tranona mentioned, and he was able to give an estimate for repairs

in fairness the rudder play wasnt that bad and i sailed happily with it for about 4 months, i was having other works done to the boat anyway and while it was out the water the boatyard dropped the rudder and replaced the bearing including parts at £200 IIRC - but as i say, that was part of other works so the lift out and block off etc was already "paid for"

without all the details though your problem might not be identical to mine but sounds familiar to my boat when i bought it. - mine was a 2007 bav 30 for reference.
 
Laysula said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9upUBC2tu1c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Short film of how to replace the lower bearing.
Click to expand...

While this is useful for the replacement of the lower doughnut bearing on that model Bavaria (and common to most of the larger models from late 90s to 2009 or so) there are a number of glaring mistakes. First the bearing is not Teflon but acetal so does not swell onto the shaft, but the seizure was probably caused by a combination of the corrosion in the housing crushing the bearing and corrosion on the shaft.

Second, he does not understand galvanic corrosion. The anodes on the saildrive (and prop) are nothing to do with steering gear as both are electrically isolated from the rest of the boat. The corrosion in the bearing housing is not galvanic action as the aluminium is not connected to any other metal. His new anode will not reduce corrosion on either the shaft or the bearing housing as neither are in contact with other metals under water.

The probable cause of both areas of corrosion are the use of copperbased antifouling around the bearing housing and probably spilling over to the exposed shaft. Many owners leave a circular area around where the shaft enters the hull, just as you do around aluminium sterndrives and coat that with an antifoul recommended for aluminium such as Trilux.

Not all Bavarias suffer from this issue - my old 37 of the same era as the one in the video showed no sign of corrosion or stiffness/wear in the 14 years I owned from new.
 
Last edited:
Tranona said:
The probable cause of both areas of corrosion are the use of copperbased antifouling around the bearing housing and probably spilling over to the exposed shaft. Many owners leave a circular area around where the shaft enters the hull, just as you do around aluminium sterndrives and coat that with an antifoul recommended for aluminium such as Trilux.
Click to expand...

Correct! In many cases, even boatyards and dealers don't know how to antifoul properly. To avoid future problems with alloy rudderstocks, it's necessary to use Trilux or similar on an area 3-5cm around the bearings and rudder stock. Jefa have a useful instruction sheet - https://www.jefa.com/ftp/rudder/maintenance/Rudder_blade_anti_fouling_instructions.pdf
 
Thanks all for the replies. The boat is indeed a 2001 Bavaria 31.

Hopefully it won't be in the £000's. The boat is out of the water for the winter so hopefully I can do this while it is still out.
 
Thank you very much everyone very helpful info. The boat is a 2001 Bavaria 31 so hopefully that will mean its in the hundreds rather than the thousands.
Thanks again
 
Jefa sells the bearings. Here's the section of the FTP server for your 2001 Bavaria 31, which includes a quote. Add Danish VAT of 25% and shipping and you should have a pretty good idea.

The work is no big deal, apart from cutting out the old bearing ball, if seized, as shown in the video. There may be additional costs with lifting the boat up high enough to drop the rudder out, depending on your boatyard and boat. Some yards allow you to dig a hole downwards instead!

Also check the rudder for water in the foam insides (removable with a vacuum pump) and if you find any, cut a groove around the rudder stock and add some sealant, as shown on the Jefa website.
 
I had a pair of bearings made in acetal from a chap on ebay. £60 for the pair. Custom makes anything you want including sheaves in acetal or nylon.
 
I agree that's anaerobic corrosion leaving sulphates and bacteria to do the damage it's almost certainly nothing to do with dissimilar metals as he suggests.
 
When I had to have a new rudder it was a bit more involved than just changing the bottom bearing.
There were 3 guys involved in bringing in the hoist lifting the boat clear of the cradle. The gantry would not lift the boat high enough so they had to juggle with blocks etc.

Removing tiller, Releasing the neoprene gaiter at the top of the rudder tube. The gaiter promptly split thus needing a new one (Does the Bav have this?) Getting up under the deck to release a split ring. releasing the top bearing, (Sheared bolts, aluminium/stainless steel) dropping the rudder, getting the old roller bearing out.

Putting a new top bearing back, along with the deck fitting. (the bottom one was worn so the top one could have been on the way out as well & the OP might want to check his) Replacing the bottom bearing, the rudder & gaiter & refitting the 2 jubilee clips that retained it, then the split ring under the deck (stops the rudder riding upwards)

This took the 3 blokes a good 3 hours & they were not wandering about, except for the gantry driver who had to wait, Although he helped get tools ladders etc.. the job was a pig. I know, I was there.
The two bearings cost about £ 100-00 each plus delivery from Jefra
I forget the exact cost, but at the time I did not think that the yard (Calley marina, Inverness) overcharged & were very apologetic at time. The manager made 3 visits to set up then check why it was taking so long. Infact the manager reduced the amount by £ 50-00 in the final analysis.

So I would be careful about guessing the cost. Get a fixed quotation first & consider the top bearing as well as the bottom, even if it is not on the list
 
For a similar job, lift out block off remove rudder replace bearing including repair the rudder housing that was rotating in the hull I was quoted £1,500 to £2,000 depending on how much extra work was needed. There is a lot on the Bavaria owners web site of interest. Quote, "a pig of a job".
SVB24.com have rudder bearings and bushings with prices. Best of luck.
 
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