30t rudder bushing

[jscardam]

I have a 1991 Hunter 30T with some lateral play in the rudder. After reading a number of posts on the subject I proceeded to remove the rudder bushings after opening up the opening in the deck to get the upper bushing out. It turns out that the rudder stock is not a smooth polished surface but is a finely grooved surface. Further to that, it was extremely hard to remove the bushing from the shaft due to it being a very tight fit. I can barely put the bushing back over the shaft. The other observation was that there was a lot of clearance between the bushing OD and the location where is was seated in the tube. It does not appear that the bushing was ever bonded to the hull tube. Any opinions as to whether the bushing is meant to turn with the rudder post? Has anyone ever seen a rudder stock that was not a smooth surface but a finely machined surface? Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Joe

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi Joe, the link below provides some detail about the rudder bushings Hunter used on many of their models including ours. I believe the bushing was intended to be bedded into the boat hull allowing the rudder post to rotate in the bushing. Ours remains within tolerance, so no action as of yet.

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=6617&mn=42

 

[Paul Cossman]

Hi Joe, like Terry my boat is a Passage 42, not a 30T. But I did drop my rudder and replace the UHMW lower bearing. We had about 50,000 sea miles on her at that time, and the lower bearing had worn to the point it required replacement. The upper bearing was still tight, so we didn't replace that one.

When we dropped the rudder, we saw that the lower bearing had become dislodged from the shaft "tube." It was originally epoxied in place, and the rudder turns inside the fixed bearing. The replacement bearing was a very tight fit, and we had grooves machined in the outer surface so there would be a way to epoxy it in place.

It sounds like your upper bearing is still a tight fit and doesn't require replacement. It is usually the lower bearing that requires replacement, since that is the one that takes most of the load from the rudder while underway. If you're getting lateral movement from the rudder, I'd bet it's your lower bearing.

If you want more info on dropping the rudder and replacing the lower bearing, let me know. It's an unusual and big job since you need to have enough clearance under the boat to drop the rudder and get it clear. We had to dig a HUGE hole under the boat at the haulout yard; it was quite the experience. Plus the rudder was really heavy. I had four guys and we were really working.

Cheers,
Paul