Steering / Rudder Problem

[captnfin]

We were heading out today and when we got about ¼ mile form the sea buoy I felt the steering tighten and it felt like I did not have control. It was kind of like when the auto pilot tales over but tighter and stronger. Fortunately the rudder was almost straight and I went ½ mile past the sea buoy and anchored. I could not turn the wheel more than an inch in any direction as the rudder appeared to be frozen in place or jammed or something. To make a long story shorter, a friend went over the side and said nothing was in the rudder. I checked the entire steering from the wheel through the engine room, head all the way to where it connects at the steering quadrant – no noticeable problems. I disconnected the auto pilot just to be sure it was not the culprit – no success. We ended up being towed in since we had no ability to steer with the wheel or the emergency tiller.

So, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas, suggestions or thoughts on what the problem(s) could be? We have straight mechanical steering that connects via chain then wire from the wheel to the steering quadrant connected to the rudder post.

 

[Don12364]

Captn you have to tell us what boat you have as we have nothing to go on to advise you.

 

[RAD]

I would first disconnect the cable from the steering quadrant and see if the rudder moves, if it does then the problem lies in the steering pedestal or along the way at one of the sheaves

 

[Ross]

My bet is the cable is out of a sheeve. Go back and inspect with the care that the 80 dollar per hour mechanic will use if you call one. As you say there isn't very much that can go bad so make a list.
A. Nobody climbed down in there and put visegrips on the cable.

B. It ain't tangled around the exhaust pipe.

C. You over looked something whent you first got in trouble.

The list is much longer but There can't be many places in the system that will make this happen.

 

[Manny]

Do you have a wheel brake? If so could it have been engaged by accident? Ross mentioned a cable jumping off a sheave, that could bind things up for sure. Also check to make sure nothing fell on the quadrant and got wedged in.

Manny

 

[Roger Long]

I've just got to use this opportunity to tell a story:

I took a friend sailing. Since he owns the first cruising boat I designed that got built, I really wanted him to enjoy my boat. I turned the helm over to him and he sailed all afternoon. I took the wheel to drop him off at the ferry dock on the island where he was meeting his wife and discovered that the wheel brake was on. I could barely move the wheel! I said, "Oh, no. I left the wheel brake on!"

He said, "Oh, I wasn't going to say anything but it did seem a bit strange for someone who has done as much re-fitting as you have." He never did get a chance to see how nicely she steers. I'd put it on for a moment to grab something from below and then asked if he wanted to steer.

 

[BobM]

I'd follow the advice already received to isolate it to the rudder or the pedestal/sheaves. Another possibility, if it is the rudder, is that you seized a rudder bearing.

 

[Rich (P303)]

We were heading out today and when we got about ¼ mile form the sea buoy I felt the steering tighten and it felt like I did not have control. It was kind of like when the auto pilot tales over but tighter and stronger. Fortunately the rudder was almost straight and I went ½ mile past the sea buoy and anchored. I could not turn the wheel more than an inch in any direction as the rudder appeared to be frozen in place or jammed or something. To make a long story shorter, a friend went over the side and said nothing was in the rudder. I checked the entire steering from the wheel through the engine room, head all the way to where it connects at the steering quadrant – no noticeable problems. I disconnected the auto pilot just to be sure it was not the culprit – no success. We ended up being towed in since we had no ability to steer with the wheel or the emergency tiller.

So, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas, suggestions or thoughts on what the problem(s) could be? We have straight mechanical steering that connects via chain then wire from the wheel to the steering quadrant connected to the rudder post.

Not knowing exactly what you have.... if you somehow separated your steering gear from the rudder... it will let you know which direction to look.

Go over the entire process again... and let us know what you found. I would say if this happened all at once... a wire or cable jumped a sheave. Remove compass and look inside the binnacle.

 

[captnfin]

Captn you have to tell us what boat you have as we have nothing to go on to advise you.

Sorry about that. We have a 44' CSY Walkover (WO). Thanks to everyone for all of the advice so far.

 

[captnfin]

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE

Well it appears that it is definitely in the rudder somewhere. The rudder is jammed or frozen or something as I did check all of the steering from the binnacle to the quadrant. I have disconnected the steering cables and put the emergency tiller on the rudder post and I still can not budge it an inch.

A friend of mine thinks that we might of still hit the rudder on bottom or on something on the bottom and jammed it (I guess against the hull?) and/or bent the rudder post. I do not remember feeling anything hit. I am going to dive it today and see if it is jammed somehow. Do y’all think this is possible and that no one would have felt anything?

One other interesting note, another sailboat lot its rudder (or steering) almost right where we did about 30 minutes after we did. Maybe the people building the bridge dropped something in the channel that we are hitting or maybe the channel has changed even more and we are hitting the bottom.

Argggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!

 

[Tim R.]

Does your rudder hang below your keel?

 

[sailingdog]

If you hit something hard enough to bend the rudder stock/shaft, I would hope that you felt it... Chances are far more likely that one of the rudder bearings has seized up.

 

[Don12364]

Two Thoughts (if all else fails)

You described the symptom as 'tightening'. i.e. it was quite normal when you left the dock and some time later it stiffened up to the point where it became unmovable.
You have now determined that it is the rudder rather than the operating mechanism.
My Hunter 376 had a similar problem when the rudder floated upwards and the top of the rudder jammed against the small skeg which is part of the hull and intended to fair the rudder into the hull.
We couldn't figure out what the cause was and only by accident did I step onto the rudder head to gain better access. It moved downwards about 1/2" and had jammed because there was no spacer to keep the rudder apart from the skeg. Then this was cleared several more times on our way home by standing on the rudder quadrant and gently wiggling the wheel. Subsequently I made a spacer to go round the rudder stock, cut it into two halves, put each half onto the stock and held them together with a jubilee clip. In my case the stock is 6" diameter and made of FRP.

On a previous boat my rudder seized solid because the bearings were made from Nylon and were to close tolerances. The stock was 2" diameter solid stainless steel. Nylon absorbs 2.6% water and it swells. The boat had been in service for three years before this occurred and the cause was that for several days wavelets at my mooring site alongside a dock had been coming from astern and had been splashing up and thoroughly saturating both upper and lower rudder bearings. They swelled up and, at first the rudder was just tight, but after half an hour it seized solid.
The cure was that I made new bearings out of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) which has almost no water absorbtion (0.16%).