Hunter 216 Rudder Assembly

[Paul Wash]

My 216 Rudder Assembly is beginning to come detached from the deck mounting. The port side is lifting up ~1/4" inch with any weather helm. The screws on that side are no longer holding and tightening them has no effect.

My assumption would be to remove and clean up the existing caulk, fill in the old holes, and drill new ones to ensure proper mounting. I do not have any schematics for the rudder assembly so I suspect it is simply dropped in and then mounted from the topside.

Has anyone had to rebed the rudder assembly on a 216?

 

[GKuffner]

Yes I had to remove my rudder casette to replace the bearings. You have to remove the screws and then the caulking and clean the area. The screws go through the holes in the casette assembly and into the deck. There are no mounting plates. If some of the mounting screws are comming loose I would replace them with new larger screws before I tried drilling new holes. When you re mount the casette mask the area around the base and apply new caulking before dropping in the casette. Once it's down you will have time to align the screw holes and instal the screws and clean up the caulking

It's fairly easy to do if you plan and prepare correctly

Gary

 

[bloomac]

I too re-drilled my rudder cassette. Rotated about 2 inches and was all set. Filled the old holes with Plexus. I agree that maybe larger diameter screws may be a better option. I am already having one of my screws work its way out. The rudder design is great in theory and mediocre in execution. My ring rubs on the assembly, so my steering isn't super smooth. Don't take apart the cassette if you don't have to. The bearings are a pain in the butt to rebed. Just don't loose any.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Paul Wash]

I think I may try to replace the screws with larger screws and see how that works. By the way - what type of caulk did you use to rebed - LifeCaulk or the 3M 5200 type of stuff. Having done the chain plates with lifecaulk it is turning yellow and falling apart after 1.5 years of being in the weather...so I'm not too impressed by that...but I know the 5200 stuff is pretty permanent but can be removed with some work.

Also - the bearings - why did those need to be replaced? Do they need grease?

 

[bloomac]

Note to all owners. You don't grease your bearings in your rudder. That is the last thing you want to do!

Just a little Harken Sailkote if you wish, but thats it. The bearings are meant to function devoid of lubrication.

 

[GKuffner]

I used 3M 5200 for the caulk. I think that I put 2, 1/4" beads of caulk with a little extra arround the screw holes.

Gary

 

[Paul Wash]

The repair is complete. The job went quickly. I didn't realize that the entire rudder assembly was just a 14" PVC pipe - lol - with bearings/etc. inside. I should've photographed it for reference purposes.

My assembly has L-Brackets for the top screw holes - each L Brackets was so rusted that 2 of them broke off from the dock to the garage. Easily replaced. Cleaned up the area and beefed up the screws from 12's to 14's stainless. Applied the 5200 above and below the mounting surface. Five out of the six screws bit. The sixth - the original one that was nearly out did not bite down even with the larger diameter. A little concerned about that and have a few ideas if it becomes problematic again.

Thanks to all those that helped!