Rudder bearings. Beneteau.

[slipknot]

Going to replace the rudder bearings on my Beneteau 33.7 while she is out over the Winter. I have read done a little research and it sounds reasonably straightforward. Anyone done similar? Got any tips to make the job easier/better?

 

[cookjwm]

I had to reset the lower bearing, straightforward enough job. Worst bit was digging the hole to drop rudder!

 

[davidej]

By coincidence. a couple of young mates have yesterday dropped the rudder on my 361. probably only took a hour or so plus an extra 1/4 hr to dig about a foot deep hole in the ground.

we found the 'collar' bearing was not turning against the ring on the stock as it should but was turning against the GRP of the hull

Rebonded it with west epoxy and will re-install the rudder in a couple of weeks

 

[dje67]

And another coincidence... dropped the rudder on my 36cc on Thursday. Same problem as davidej - collar was turning against the grp of the rudder tube. It has worn the GRP slightly, but will need a little bit of filling-in to make sure bearing (just a bronze shell) fits snugly in the tube. I cannot refit the rudder during the repair, so in order to get the shell perfectly aligned, I think that I'll need to get a dummy shaft made up which I can fit into the hull with the boat on the cradle.

There's a pdf file on the sailboatowners forum (do a search for "PMS60 adhesive" in Google and you'll find it). I don't seem to be clever enough to upload it here....

I've not yet carried out the repair, but so far the hardest thing by a mile was getting all the internal gubbins off the rudder shaft before I could drop the rudder. I did this the evening before being lifted and nearly ran out of hours to complete it. The autohelm lever and steering quadrant are both alloy, mounted with stainless steel bolts and a through-pin. Needless to say, they'd seized solid and it took many hours of sweating and swearing to eventually get enough of the bolts and pins loose to let the shaft drop out the next day. I was very close to cancelling my lift-out!

 

[slipknot]

Thanks all for the replies. I Googled PMS60 and got the Beneteau service sheets which is really helpful. One of the sheets gives specific instructions for removing play in the rudder bearing caused by the outer bearing coming loose in the rudder tube. I have read reports of this elsewhere. It seems that it is not uncommon for the glue/filler to fail and the bearing come loose. I'm hoping that I can simply lower my rudder and re glue the bearing in the tube and refit the rudder. Not completely remove it. (Yard would not want me to dig hole in Tarmac!)
I will take some photos and report how I get on
Did you complete your repairs? Did they go as planned?

 

[Neil_Y]

Pprobably not a problem for you, but for anyone bedding or glueing bearing in place, epoxy does absorb moisture so keep it thin, less than a mm. We also sometimes have keyways cut to reduce the chance of the bearing rotating when thermal change causes an epoxy bond to separate. This is only really a problem in metal carriers travelling from the tropics to the Arctic.

 

[dje67]

I've not started by repair yet.

What's the best adhesive to use? I worry that epoxy might be too permanent if I ever have to replace the shell in the future. Is there any fixing that is tough but which could be removed without some structural damage to the rudder tube occurring? Don't think I'll be sailing to the Arctic or the tropics....!

 

[jimi]

I've not started by repair yet.

What's the best adhesive to use? I worry that epoxy might be too permanent if I ever have to replace the shell in the future. Is there any fixing that is tough but which could be removed without some structural damage to the rudder tube occurring? Don't think I'll be sailing to the Arctic or the tropics....!

I did this a few years ago on my previous boat, I contacted Beneteau who sent me a pdf with full instructions. My memory is that the adhesive used was sikaflex 291.

 

[Neil_Y]

I've not started by repair yet.

What's the best adhesive to use? I worry that epoxy might be too permanent if I ever have to replace the shell in the future. Is there any fixing that is tough but which could be removed without some structural damage to the rudder tube occurring? Don't think I'll be sailing to the Arctic or the tropics....!

A thin layer of epoxy less than a mm makes it easy to separate Maritex bearings from a grp tube but you will destroy the bearing. Epoxy is also much easier to clean up for insertion of the new bearing than a polyurethane sealant/adhesive, a drill with a long rod and a piece of sand paper on the end is the preferred tool for bearing carriers. Some people will also coat the outside of the bearing in a release agent, the epoxy still grips as it absorbs a small amount of moisture. The same method and materials are used for our shaft bearings in GRP tubes. The best person to ask is the bearing material supplier.

 

[slipknot]

Update!

I lowered the rudder on my boat at the weekend to inspect the bearing. The removal of the direct drive quadrant was very easy involving a few bolts and a couple of round rods held in place by split pins.

As I had hoped, the rudder tube bearing that was supposed to be captive in the tube had seized onto the rudder stock bearing, which meant that the whole lot was turning in the rudder tube. Unsurprisingly this meant that the bearing surfaces were the outside of the bearing, and the glue left in the tube, which had worn away and resulted in the play in the rudder.

On closer inspection I found that the bearing was not fully in the rudder tube. It was proud of the tube and was very firmly wedged into the spacer ring. So much so that you can see in the photos the gap in the bearing narrows towards the spacer ring. This was so tight that it had pinched the bearing tightly onto the rudder stock. The bearing was very difficult to separate from the spacer ring and I cant imagine that it could have made its way in there over time. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t assembled that way from new.

So a quick clean up of everything, follow the instructions provided by Beneteau on setting and gluing the bearing back into place and bobs your uncle!

 

[pathfinderstu]

Thanks all for the replies. I Googled PMS60 and got the Beneteau service sheets which is really helpful. One of the sheets gives specific instructions for removing play in the rudder bearing caused by the outer bearing coming loose in the rudder tube. I have read reports of this elsewhere. It seems that it is not uncommon for the glue/filler to fail and the bearing come loose. I'm hoping that I can simply lower my rudder and re glue the bearing in the tube and refit the rudder. Not completely remove it. (Yard would not want me to dig hole in Tarmac!)
I will take some photos and report how I get on
Did you complete your repairs? Did they go as planned?

Hi I googled PMS60 and got an ad for menopause tablets... maybe they are trying to tell me something !!
Do you have the exact link sounds interesting thanks.