Stiff Steering

paulrae

paulrae

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Hi everyone

I have a Whitlock Cobra steering system on my new (to me) Westerly Regatta 370. I've only sailed her once, during the sea trial, before trucking her up to Scotland. During the sea trial I noticed that the steering became very stiff as the boat became over-pressed - essentially we had too much sail for the breeze at the time. When not hard on the wind and when motoring the steering is reasonably light - not quite finger-tip, but not stiff at all. There's no lateral movement in the rudder stock, nor is there any roughness when turning the wheel. I've checked the top quadrant, and it's well greased. The bottom bearing is, I understand, sealed on my model, so I can't grease it.

As she's out of the water at the moment I'm wondering if it would be worth dropping the rudder to see if there are any rudder bearing issues. However, I'm a bit reluctant as experience shows I'm likely to do as much harm as good.

Any ideas about the source of the problem, or opinions on dropping the rudder?

Thanks in advance
 
Not familiar with a Whitlock Cobra steering system but we had variable stiff steering due (as it turned out) to one of the cables having come off its intermediate pulley to the quadrant. It came to light when the cable down the side of the pulley parted just as we were about to go into Portsmouth harbour /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Not a big deal to put right, but easy to check before it becomes a problem.
 
Sounds mostly to do with being overpressed and hard on the wind.

If you are concerned most wheel steering stiffness seems to be due to cables rather than rudder and bearings..... I pour 3 in 1 oil down the conduits, followed by Wurth HSS 2000, which generally frees things up substantially.
 
Cobra systems are more prone to developing slackness than becoming stiff, however mine included a stern tube greaser but this needed only a couple of turns per year, I am not sure where the cables referred to in the advice above could be. You can download an exploded Cobra diagram from the Lewmar website. If your boat is out, walk up to the rudder, grab it low down with both hands push really hard then pull, does it move about, try lifting it vertically, (it will be very heavy) no play? chances are the bearings are ok. I suspect an over-canvassed or unbalanced sail plan but you will soon be able to sort this out once you know your boat better.
 
Don't forget if you want to drop your rudder right out you will have to dig a surprisingly deep hole under the rudder as the shaft is longer than you imagine, not every boatyard approves of this and it can be hard work even if you are not on concrete.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I am not sure where the cables referred to in the advice above could be. You can download an exploded Cobra diagram from the Lewmar website.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry... I assumed cables, rather than the rack and pinion which it seems the Cobra is.
 
Depends what you mean by 'stiff'.



If it was 'heavy' - ie needed a lot of effort to keep the boat off the wind, but flew back of its own accord if allowed to - then its a sail balance issue.

If it was 'stiff', ie became hard to turn either way when loaded-up under sail - then it is a steering issue and needs investigating.
 
Hi,

Try replacing the bearings on the whitlock.
I had similar problems on our Typhoon. The bearings had virtually desintegrated (sp) and caused the vertical part of the steering assembly to become out of line which places undue friction on the rack.

It got to the point where they were so bad that the steering would occasionally jam.

Its a bit of a job to remove them and includes using hammers.

Trev
 
An interesting one. Most probs with steering gear arise from seizing or drive failure, which is not normally intermittent as you describe. If your gear runs free when ashore now, with no sail loading, then it must be structurally in pretty good nick.

Was anything noticed when you surveyed it out of the water?
You did survey it before purchase?

I join with the other views here, that you have apparently some tweaking with sail loading to experiment with before deciding the steering is going down. Check all lubricating points and that everything runs free and proceed to sea.

Final thought - can you chat with the previous owner for an insight, or other owners of this class? The Westerly Owners Association is very good for this kind of insight.

Peter Gibbs
 
Have same steering on similar size boat as yours.
Identical symptoms as yours, over 4 lay ups this is a list of all the faults I found.
1 Replace track rod ends on drag link Don't forget to put tape on shaft so new ones go in same place as old. These ends can be tested same as on a car
2 bottom bearing make sure when you refit it is well home as its only an interference fit I tapped in a couple of grub screws just in case.
3 Steering Pinion. Only needs to be slightly out of true to bind on rack. Be careful when pulling out shaft not to damage shims.
4 Replaced shaft bushes not really necessary but got rid of irritating squeak
Parts available from Bainbridge Delivery times can be quite long and prices are stupid
If your pedestal is looking ropey have it grit blasted and re-enamelled at the same time, makes cockpit look spanking
 
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