Colvic UFO 27' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

[benemma]

Colvic UFO 27\' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

Hi there, has anyone had any experience repairing or tightening the rudder bearing on a colvic UFO 27'. The rudder has about +/-2mm free play in all directions when holding the base and moving it. I just wanted to check what was normal and how to solve it before taking it all apart. Thanks, Ben.

 

[Speed]

Re: Colvic UFO 27\' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

Hi

I had a UFO 27 years ago, and had to replace the lower bearing due to wear and excessive play. All looked straightforward, so we dropped the rudder and tried to pull the nylon/polyacetal bearing from the tube. This proved impossible, so in the end we rigged up a hacksaw blade and carefully (!) set about sawing vertical slots in the bearing in situ, then finished the job with a sharp chisel.

To our amazement the bottom bearing had screws into it from the outside of the rudder tube, but you couldn't tell when it was in place as the heads were inside the laminate. I can only assume that this was done by Colvic during construction.

We filed off the ends of the screws, and drifted in the new bearing. It did need a little reaming internally as it shrank once compressed, but it was as good as new when we sold the boat, and never slipped without the securing screws.

Might be worth being careful if yours is the same.

 

[Caer Urfa]

Re: Colvic UFO 27\' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

Not the same boat but I had problem of a 'locked' rudder on my Colvic Watson when I first purchased her as she had not moved for two years and it was locked solid.
After dismantling the top end to give enough movement I had to 'jack it' up to free it, even lifted the whole boat once.
The stock finaly came up enough to just see inside the bottom bush, so got an airline and blasted the SH--'Muck' out, pumped in stern gland grease and lowered the rudder back down into it.
Worked ever since! so do you realy have to replace yours completly? or are you having steering problems as there is not much chance of it 'popping out' .

 

[sailorman]

Re: Colvic UFO 27\' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

my boat is a bigger sister ship, the bearing was an " Oilite Bearing" sintered bronze impregnated with oil.
i replaced this 10 yrs ago with a bronze bearing & Incorporated a grease nipple + the original screw-down greaser.
there is some movement @ the bottom of the long rudder when hauled out but a few pumps of grease sort that. bear in mind your rudder is long compared with most so any wear is exacerbated by this

 

[benemma]

Re: Colvic UFO 27\' - Rudder bearing? Had experience.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.