Just partially thru my stiff steering process. We have B411 1999. Not sure the steering is an exact match for all here. Here's what I did/found:
1. Loosened the quadrant steering cables to determine if the problem is in the rudder or the steering/wheel system.
2. Used the emergency tiller to determine that the stiffness was still present.
3. I determined that my steering was uniformly stiff thru the whole rotation.
4. Confirmed that my rudder was a carbon fiber Tides system.
5. Removed the quadrant bolt and carefully pried under the quadrant close to the rudder post taking care to use a piece of wood against the quadrant underside (since mine is carbon fiber and didn't want to damage it)
6. tied a rope thru the rudder/quadrant bolt hole to keep control of the rudder.
7. removed the rudder thrust bearing bolt taking care to retain the two SS metal sleeves in the bearing bolt holes
8. Lifted the thrust bearing to inspect - mine was improperly distorted probably by a previous (PO) rudder repair attempt
9. We were hauling the boat for the winter so I dropped the rudder as it was hauled.
I moved the rudder back and forth with a wood block on the ground under the rudder in case the rudder dropped.
The rudder was stiff coming out until the upper bearing parts were disengaged pointing to the problem area
The lower bearing is plastic inside the rudder housing and FRP on the rudder. The FRP showed only a relatively small contact area - it was not uniform - I am still assessing this issue.
The Upper bearing is "plastic" on both the rudder housing and the rudder post. There was a fair amount of crud in the bearing. After cleaning, both the housing bearing and the rudder post bearing surfaces were scored and raised.
That's all for now
1. Loosened the quadrant steering cables to determine if the problem is in the rudder or the steering/wheel system.
2. Used the emergency tiller to determine that the stiffness was still present.
3. I determined that my steering was uniformly stiff thru the whole rotation.
4. Confirmed that my rudder was a carbon fiber Tides system.
5. Removed the quadrant bolt and carefully pried under the quadrant close to the rudder post taking care to use a piece of wood against the quadrant underside (since mine is carbon fiber and didn't want to damage it)
6. tied a rope thru the rudder/quadrant bolt hole to keep control of the rudder.
7. removed the rudder thrust bearing bolt taking care to retain the two SS metal sleeves in the bearing bolt holes
8. Lifted the thrust bearing to inspect - mine was improperly distorted probably by a previous (PO) rudder repair attempt
9. We were hauling the boat for the winter so I dropped the rudder as it was hauled.
I moved the rudder back and forth with a wood block on the ground under the rudder in case the rudder dropped.
The rudder was stiff coming out until the upper bearing parts were disengaged pointing to the problem area
The lower bearing is plastic inside the rudder housing and FRP on the rudder. The FRP showed only a relatively small contact area - it was not uniform - I am still assessing this issue.
The Upper bearing is "plastic" on both the rudder housing and the rudder post. There was a fair amount of crud in the bearing. After cleaning, both the housing bearing and the rudder post bearing surfaces were scored and raised.
That's all for now
