Rasmus 35 - stearing dela

[Lars Sand]

I am writing this on behalf of my parrents who got themself a Rasmus 35 (2 masted) last year. So far i thas been pretty good.But there is some delay when turning the stearing wheel, it feels like the hydrallics cant keep the preasure, or maybe there are some airpockets in the system.The stearing wheel is placed portside at the cabin side.Also does anyone have a nice digital version of the brochure for the boat?I found these http://www.classic-hrs.com/brochures/Rasmus/Pagetwo.JPG and http://www.classic-hrs.com/brochures/Rasmus/Pagethree.JPG but its in German and the quality is pretty poor. If you have any kind of brochures or what ever please post a link to itBest RegardsLars

 

[shanty]

Rasmus steering

Rasmus steering can be tough to work on, because the old Vetus products are not well supported.Sloppy steering can be due to air in the hydraulic lines, or mechanical wear of the keyways. You can bleed air at the steering cylinder under the aft bunk, just like you would bleed auto brakes. The helm pump is also the hydraulic reservoir.The rudder shaft is keyed where it engages the rudder, and also at the quadrant, where the steering cylinder attaches.A way to check for mechanical wear is to put the tiller on the rudder shaft, and see if you can feel any play when steering that way. This test is better done with the hydraulics out of the loop - either use a bypass valve on the lines, or simply remove the pin from the quadrant.I wound up re-keying my Rasmus rudder - a big job because the tapered rudder shaft must be hand broached. And I've never been able to find replacement seals for the steering cylinder. I suspect they're lying around at Vetus somewhere, if you can find them. Maybe you'll have better luck dealing with the parent company than I have with Vetus U.S.A. Let me know if you find a source or any part numbers for these items. My Rasmus is a 1973 ketch.

 

[noone]

Seals for Vetus cylinder

I had good luck refurbishing both my hydraulic cylinder and the pump from HR 35 1972 at Baltimore Hydraulics. They took some time to find gaskets for the pump, and it wasn't cheap but it seems to work well.