Bavaria 50 Rudder issue?

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M

Mike

we are doing the ARC in a few weeks time, as the "ships engineer" I was a bit concerned with the ammount of movement noticed at the top of the rudder stem where it comes through the deck and is secured onto a plate...above which the stem continues for the emergency tiller. There are two teflon washers that sit below the adjustable screw, one of which appears to shroud the shaft on its decent. at present there is a 3mm latteral movement of the rudder post noticable when under presure....my question is ...is this an accepted tolerance? I am tempted to tighten the screw down but think the entire system may be gravity held and thus any tigtening may upset the position of lower elements? have fallen out with the dealer so he wont help...any advice? Mike
 
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Jim

Rudder bearings

Mike, My Bavaria 50 is (as we speak) out of the water having the rudder bearings replaced. I do know that the bearings are special and not readily available. I could hook you up with the people doing the job if you think they might offer you some insight to your question. Jim
 
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John Aubin

Bavaria 50 Rudder issue

We have had a similar problem with our yacht, an Ocean 42 Bavaria. If you tighten up the top nut the entire rudder system becomes unacceptably stiff.
 
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mike

thanks for reply

thanks for your reply....seems we will have to replace the bearings..apparently made of Ertalyte....wonder if you had this done..and if so was it done in or out of the water? personally I dont merit the play as great...but if it gets worse it could be a problem
 
M

mike

thanks for help

Hi Jim, Thanks for reply, Time is short for us to get her out of the water,I wonder if the top bearings can be replaced whilst she is afloat...I think our battering through hurricane Vince off madeira made the top plate move (have replaced all bolts) and caused wear to the white plastic bearing.Its very small at momentbut may get worse...how great was the movement in yours before you had it sorted...and yes ..if you could put me in touch with the people doing yours that would be great. hope Moby is better soon Mike
 
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Joe

Rudder movement

Hello Mike, I have a Bavaria 37. We have crossed the Indian ocean earlier this year and will embark on another ocean passage soon. We also had this problem. Since then, I have researched the issue of how the rudder is supported. The answer is that the rudder bearing (bushing) is manufactured by JP3, a french firm. See website at Iminewport.com or type in "JP3 Rudder Bearings" into the search engine. for the time being, by all means tighten the screws. I did, it helped. I will be hauling the boat soon and will investigate further. I also had a vertical movement that caused a resounding bang to somewhere in the hull. Cheers, Joe
 
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mike

thanks Joe

Thanks for that link Joe....managed to get some sense from a uk bavaria dealer, he was able to get the bushes..but not for a month. We have decided to live with it until she is on the hard and then strip it all down without the risk of sinking (how embarrasing would that be) The process of putting new ones in seems really easy, its just a case of working out why they wore so quick in the first place. In our case I think it was caused by the top plate working loose and allowing the whole assemble to roam free..we have changed the plate clamp bolts now so that should solve it. have a great trip when you go. Mike
 
Nov 2, 2005
7
- - Vancouver
Rudder bearing

Hi Mike, yes, we are in the same boat (pun quite intended). We had that lateral movement as well. I am just in the process of making arrangements for the haul-out. I have been in touch with Bavaria, A Mr. Eckhart Meyer, and asked him which type of bearing we actually have in our boat. He has not replied yet. Say, have you had any problems with the black sealant in the teak decking coming off? We have had this problem since the boat was new. It makes a heck of a mess everytime the teak gets wet.I saw somebody actually varnished their teak and I wonder if this might solve our problem. Any thoughts on that? By the way, do you know if you have a line cutter installed on your drive leg? We didn't and took a heavy fishing line into the leg, behind the prop. It wrecked the seals and caused our transmission to have water in the oil. I now have the Volvo Penta line cutter installed. It is really easy to install. It can be done in about 15 minutes in the water. How did you add the photo tpo your reply? I would like to post one also. Cheers, Joe
 
Nov 2, 2005
7
- - Vancouver
Rudder bearing

Hi Mike, yes, we are in the same boat (pun quite intended). We had that lateral movement as well. I am just in the process of making arrangements for the haul-out. I have been in touch with Bavaria, A Mr. Eckhart Meyer, and asked him which type of bearing we actually have in our boat. He has not replied yet. Say, have you had any problems with the black sealant in the teak decking coming off? We have had this problem since the boat was new. It makes a heck of a mess everytime the teak gets wet.I saw somebody actually varnished their teak and I wonder if this might solve our problem. Any thoughts on that? By the way, do you know if you have a line cutter installed on your drive leg? We didn't and took a heavy fishing line into the leg, behind the prop. It wrecked the seals and caused our transmission to have water in the oil. I now have the Volvo Penta line cutter installed. It is really easy to install. It can be done in about 15 minutes in the water. How did you add the photo tpo your reply? I would like to post one also. Cheers, Joe
 
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