Rudder Post Play

[Witzend]

Sailing this weekend, BTW it was great in the upper Chessy!! appears to have reviled some minor play in my rudder post. On Saturday is was blowing 20 NW and went W. this caused some confused water in the channel. The bow was pounding more than usual, as a result I felt a slight thump in the wheel. Went below to see if the post was moving and indeed it was. Later on the hook I went overboard to check it out, and there is some play forward-aft in the post bearing, but not a lot. Question, how do you tighten this up?

 

[paulj]

Witzend

I tried to shim :lame:............... so put in new bearing.




paulj :troll:

 

[Witzend]

So inner sleeve is what wears out? The shaft has a slightly raised collar, is this the shim you are referring to? Why did this not work?
If I'm understanding the design correctly, I can see why this wears out. There needs to be an upper and lower bearing to provide the proper stability. Shoot these engineers so they can not procreate and pass along defective genes!!

 

[Jeff75]

RE: Shim on rudder post,,, After reading this post, I went below to check the rudder post and found the four bolts holding what I believe is the shim, very loose, to the point of almost coming apart. Are they supposed to be this way and if not, how tight should they be?

 

[Witzend]

I believe the screws you are referring to are for the seal, not sure what the torque spec. is, but common sense tells me not to over tighten. The ones that were missing on Paul's can't be accessed unless you drop the rudder. The wear apparently occures within the sleeve. Do I have this correct Paul?

 

[paulj]

Witzend
The boat yard wanted to shim the rudder and I wanted a new bearing.
I think or guess the following..... The boat yard wanted a quick fix and shim because the bearing would take a week or two to get and/or maybe the mechanic did not have the tools etc..who knows.

I went down to the boat yard and looked at the rudder and the bearing did a little measuring and took some pictures....I wanted a new bearing.
Maybe a week later or so, the boat yard called and said the new bearing was installed and did I want the 4 bolts added that were missing.

It is very hard to shim an oval to a diameter.............:lame:

I think the rudder bearing concept is the same as the prop strut shaft bearing...........if found to loose remove and replace.

The one inch of play at the end of the rudder and the clunck, was in my book..... out of limits. I have no experiance on this.



The 310 manual has a drawing of rudder shaft and how it works.


paulj :troll:

 

[paulj]

Jeff75

RE: Shim on rudder post,,, After reading this post, I went below to check the rudder post and found the four bolts holding what I believe is the shim, very loose, to the point of almost coming apart. Are they supposed to be this way and if not, how tight should they be?

Look in the 310 manual for instructions.


paulj :troll:

 

[Albanach]

Jeff75

Encountered same 'problem' fairly recently and thought that it may have contributed to some saltwater ingress during some hard sailing. Not sure now whether it was that or from a slight leak via the rubstrake fastener in port rear. However, since I tightened the packing screws I have had no more saltwater coming in.

Following is correspondence with Catalina:

"

Ahoy Heinz,

Haven't heard from you so I take it and trust that all is well~. How did that work? (lightly tightening those bolts with a wrench or socket, just enough to keep the upper and lower portions together and not to overly compress the packing in between). They really don't have to be much more than finger tight since there is little pressure on the packing and the packing is at or above water line level which means water is only going to hae a chance to come in when there is rocking at dock or under power or a fair amount of heel under sail.

Best regards,
Warren

Subject: Catalina 310-Hull149 2001-Rudder Packing Gland

Warren​

In view of your previous terrific service, I hope you won’t mind me asking you another technical question. Alternatively, you may want to direct me to someone more appropriate for this enquiry:
Having discovered some saltwater ingress into the after bilge following an afternoon’s sail, I think I may have traced the leak to the Rudder Packing Gland (at least that what I think it is called – see picture attached). When I checked the 4 screws/bolts (shown in the picture), they were only finger tight, ie. I could unscrew them with 2 fingers – and I’m not the strong type.
At this stage I have only tightened them approx. one turn. My next sailing/motoring outing should show if a) tightened enough, b) if that was the leak. Lying at the mooring, no more saltwater has entered the boat.
Could you please advise how tight these screws should be?

 

[Witzend]

My suspicions were correct, not to over tighten. I'm wondering if the bolts that were missing on Paul's lower sleeve bearing may be loose on mine and are causing the looseness I'm experiencing?

Paul, was there lateral movement of this sheave without the bolts present? I don't see evidence of this in your picture other than it appears to be offset a bit, but it is hard to tell.

 

[Jeff75]

Great info again, of course, I notice the four bolts have lock washers on them so I would think that they need to be tight enough to close the washer.

 

[Witzend]

Pulled Witz today, looked at the rudder and yes Paul, my screws are also missing on the outside collar. Does not seem to cause any additional movement when I check for play. The bearing has just a very little movement, not really a concern at this time. I wonder why Catalina choose not to install the screws? So, Paul did you add the missing screws?