Rudder problem.

[mdonnelly]

Out on boat today and tiller felt 'odd'. Not been out much recently so thought it was lack of feel for the boat. However, when I engaged autopilot the tiller was about 10 degrees over to port in order to maintain a straight course. This was also the case when steering by hand. Over the last year always had a slight movement where tiller joined the rudder stock and always noted a slight off mid ships position of tiller on a straight course but today noticeably worse. Had a look earlier with an underwater camera and all seemed well ie rudder and tiller aligned on pontoon and movements Port and starboard seemed normal. Manually moving rudder moved tiller as expected. Would welcome suggestions as to what could be wrong.

 

[pete]

Depending on your boat and rudder type may-be tangs in the rudder connecting the rudder shaft to the rudder are breaking away from the shaft and allowing the shaft to slip slightly when under pressure. It is not that unusual on some makes of boat and can be fixed by splitting the rudder and re welding the tangs back to the shaft.

 

[mdonnelly]

Pete, that was what I was considering. Going to arrange a lift out asap. Anybody had this problem and fixed it?

 

[oldsaltoz]

You really need to establish just what is moving at what point.

As you don't say what type of boar or rudder set up is it's a bit hard to give some advice.

I would be looking at some way of holding the rudder in one position then try moving the tiller and check what is going on to establish if the fault is in the tiller to rudder stock shaft link, or the shaft it's self or the rudder internals.

Because all need a lift out to fix.

PS. Make sure the rudder is supported if you take the tiller off, some will allow the rudder and shaft to drop out.

Good luck and fair winds.

 

[Tranona]

Out on boat today and tiller felt 'odd'. Not been out much recently so thought it was lack of feel for the boat. However, when I engaged autopilot the tiller was about 10 degrees over to port in order to maintain a straight course. This was also the case when steering by hand. Over the last year always had a slight movement where tiller joined the rudder stock and always noted a slight off mid ships position of tiller on a straight course but today noticeably worse. Had a look earlier with an underwater camera and all seemed well ie rudder and tiller aligned on pontoon and movements Port and starboard seemed normal. Manually moving rudder moved tiller as expected. Would welcome suggestions as to what could be wrong.

Can only be one of two things. Wear on the fitting of the tiller on the rudder stock - most common, can be checked without hauling the boat and probably easily fixed with a new or repaired tiller head fitting. Second, stock breaking away from rudder - that is the tangs have broken away from the stock. Uncommon and not easy to fix. Often occurs under load so you need to hold the rudder solid and lean on the tiller to see if the stock (not just the tiller) moves.

 

[sutton sailor]

As previuosly said, can only be tiller to stock moving or tangs in rudder moving. If your rudder is transon hung you should be able to get lines down and around it to hold it in a fixed position then you can try moving the tiller and see if movment is between tiller and stock or stock and rudder. as previously stated if it is the former you may be able to cure problem without hauling the boat. all the best

 

[Dipper]

Pete, that was what I was considering. Going to arrange a lift out asap. Anybody had this problem and fixed it?

I've had the welds on the tangs fail. See here http://www.randpsystems.co.uk/seawolf/rudders.htm although your tang arrangement is unlikely to be identical to mine. Scroll down the page a little.

I glassed in PVC bushes as extra supports because the GRP was so thin at the stock entry and exit points. Yours may be thick enough.

While you are at it, use Oldsaltoz's rubber ring technique to prevent water ingress. It works!

 

[MASH]

If the boat's going to be in a cradle for the work make sure the yard knows if you need to drop the rudder (and shaft) as this often requires a lot of height extra to get it out and if you're in a standard cradle its bloody hard work digging a 3 ft pit to achieve this - and even more awkward to discover this if you're on concrete!

 

[mdonnelly]

Thanks all. The boat is a Jouet 950. The rudder is attached to a small Skeg. Was thinking about fixing rudder and then seeing what movement occurs at tiller. Just wondering how to fix.