Sloppy rudder
About four years ago, the wear in the tube that held the rudder stock on my '78 Catalina 30 was sufficient to cause enough wiggle to be an annoyance. I contacted Catalina to inquire about replacing the bearings. They said 'no bearings, the rudder stock just rides in a fiberglass tube' and they mailed me a set of instructions for 'tightening up' the slop. The rudder stock is housed in a fiberglass tube with no bearings. Since the rudder is buoyant, there is no weight that must be supported. Wear occurs on the figerglass tube as the steel rudder stock rubs against it. As the wear progresses, a looseness occurs which results in the sloppiness. Briefly, the solution offered by Catalina is this: 1. With the boat on the hard, remove the tiller and the tiller head from the rudder stock and drop the rudder. I had to dig a hole about a foot deep under the rudder for enough clearance. 2. Clean the rudder stock well but do not add scratches in the process. 3. Using a long stick, run a rag with a solvent on it through the fiberglass rudder tube to remove any grease and dust. Also give the rudder stock a final wipe down with it. I used denatured alchol that I burn in my stove. 4. Give the rudder stock several coats of 'parting wax' which is available at West Marine. It's the stuff that is sprayed into molds so that laid up fiberglass parts can be removed easily. 5. Replace the rudder in the tube and prop it in place with support under it. 6. Build a dam to fill the opening where the rudder stock exits the hull by forcing clay into the 'crack'. 7. Mix a pint of resin with hardener. 8. Carefully pour resin, in a fine stream, into the crack at the upper end of the tube where the rudder stock exits in the cockpit. The entire pint will not fit, but the idea is to fill the cavity between the waxed rudder stock and the worn fiberglass tube. Be patient, pour slowly. 9. Observe the unused portion of the resin to determine when it has hardened. The resin you poured into the cavity will have hardened, too. 10. Replace the tiller head and tiller. Remove the support from under the rudder. 11. Gently move the tiller to turn the rudder. If you have done the wax job properly, the resin will have adhered only to the fiberglass tube and not the rudder stock. Move the tiller back and forth progressively farther until you are able to move it through its full range of motion. The clay used for the dam at the lower end will break away and fall out. 12. 'Exercise' the tiller for the next couple of days. 13. Catalina discourages adding any lubricants because they tend to attract dust and form a gum. I must admit I was a little apprehensive. My fear was that the resin would 'glue' the rudder stock and the fiberglass rudder tube together. However, my fears were unfounded. Perhaps the success was due to my careful application of the parting wax. The sloppiness was completely cured, the tiller was 'stiff'; yet easy to move. What a pleasure. Four years later, still tight. Anyhow, that's what worked for me on my '78 C30.
