I have a 1989 Hunter 30 and I noticed a periodic thump that I traced to the rudder post moving side to side in the rudder tube. There is at least a 1/4 inch of movement in in the top bearing. How serious is this, has anyone heard of rudder post wearing through the tube on a Hunter 30? Is this an urgent repair or could it wait a couple months until the end of the season? I'd appreciate any advice on how others have corrected this issue. Thanks.
Rudder post bearings on 1989 Hunter 30
- Thread starter gray125
- Start date
I had exactly the same problem on my '91 H30. It's a major repair but mine was like that for a while before I discovered it doing maintenance on the steering system. My worry for you is the slack in the wire rope that runs from the pedestal to the steering quadrant (radial drive wheel in my case), Before I adjusted it, it was so loose it could jump off the drive wheel and lose steering. You should at least make sure you have enough tension to keep the wire ropes in the groove of the drive wheel with the rudder turned from stop to stop. Also make sure you can use the emergency tiller 
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I assume you have a fiberglass rudder tube with two nylon donut bearings bonded in the top and bottom of the fiberglass tube with the rudder post passing up through the bearings. Also, you have an Edson radial drive wheel or quadrant clamped to the rudder post. The underside of the drive wheel rests on a nylon spacer to keep the drive wheel off the deck. You are seeing the spacer, post and drive wheel move side to side maybe 3/8 - 1/2 inch. Fortunately, or otherwise, hunter built the top bearing to pop out of the fiberglass tube if you ran the rudder aground. In my case I think it was age and tons of weather helm from blown out sails. I replaced the drive wheel and all wire rope and chain from Edson. However, we had to cut the deck around the rudder post to pull out the bearing. The bearing is made off high molecular weight plastic to prevent swelling. We made a double length bearing and rebounded with 5200 per Hunter. But it will now not come out if we drag the rudder. Didn't realize this pop out upper bearing was a safety feature until after the new bearing was installed. I can send or post the bearing drawings for my boat and how it was repaired if you are interested.
Dan
.I assume you have a fiberglass rudder tube with two nylon donut bearings bonded in the top and bottom of the fiberglass tube with the rudder post passing up through the bearings. Also, you have an Edson radial drive wheel or quadrant clamped to the rudder post. The underside of the drive wheel rests on a nylon spacer to keep the drive wheel off the deck. You are seeing the spacer, post and drive wheel move side to side maybe 3/8 - 1/2 inch. Fortunately, or otherwise, hunter built the top bearing to pop out of the fiberglass tube if you ran the rudder aground. In my case I think it was age and tons of weather helm from blown out sails. I replaced the drive wheel and all wire rope and chain from Edson. However, we had to cut the deck around the rudder post to pull out the bearing. The bearing is made off high molecular weight plastic to prevent swelling. We made a double length bearing and rebounded with 5200 per Hunter. But it will now not come out if we drag the rudder. Didn't realize this pop out upper bearing was a safety feature until after the new bearing was installed. I can send or post the bearing drawings for my boat and how it was repaired if you are interested.
Dan
Thank you very much for the information. I'll check the steering cable to see if it's got too much slack. I'm going to sail it like it is until the end of the season (two months) and replace the bearings at the end of the season.
I am very interested in your repair details. Did you replace both bearings and did you have to cut away the fiberglass to get them out?
I am very interested in your repair details. Did you replace both bearings and did you have to cut away the fiberglass to get them out?
After the boat was on the hard we determined the lower bearing to be good (passed the shake test). After removing the Edson radial drive wheel off the rudder post we lowered the rudder about a foot on to a piece of cribbing. To remove the rudder you have to have the crane pick the boat up another 5 feet or dig a hole below the rudder if at home. I'll have to do that for cutlass bearing replacement soon. There is a spacer that the drive wheel rests on, which also rests on the deck. The upper "donut" bearing is below the deck, bonded into the fiberglass rudder tube. The opening in the deck was maybe a 1/2 inch bigger than the post, but too small to pull the bearing, so we opened the hole in the deck to get at the 3-in OD bearing. After R&R of the bearing, we bonded a piece of material over the opening so the spacer could again ride on the "new" deck. I'll put together a document with pictures and see if I'm allowed to post it in the Hunter Owners Modification section and let you know. I wanted to document several other mods and major maintenance that included mods, like the Air Condition unit, engine compartment blowers, mast and rigging rebuild, upgrading the mast lightning ground, pulling and replacing the compression post, head gate valve, plumbing and a few others.
i am just getting ready to pull out our 1989 Hunter 30 for the winter and will go through all of the weak spots to assess repair requirements with mast down and indoor storage. Is this a common one and are there other threads that you recommend that I look at to assess where to look for trouble spots. The boat has never been in saltwater and not been abused in rough conditions/groundings
I have a hunter 27 1989 that has the same setup and had to replace my rudder this spring due to an unmarked log in the channel. So anyway it was already late putting it in for the second time when the new rudder arrived and I noticed the same slop you have. Not wanting to waste any more of a short season I made a new spacer for under the Edison pulley that was tight to the shaft and drilled/tapped the the boat. This then acts as a spacer and an upper bearing. Hope this lasts for a while and I made an extra spacer so when slop returns it will be an easy replacement. I know this is not the correct repair but seems as an easier way to keep the slop out.
Dave
While in storage with the mast down check the following:
- The lightning ground between the compression post and mast base is probably corroded away at the mast base. (see new image)
- the lightning ground between the compression post foot and keel plate is probably corroded away at base of post. (the tab in the foot of the post had the wire had corroded away due to the post filling with water from the mast)
- make sure you get good drip loops in the cables when retyping the mast. Consider making the PVC pipe that penetrates the cabin a bit longer. We blocked the mast about a foot above the base plate and fed the wires through the PVC, added drip loops, then put in a nice squirt of silicone caulking to help keep water out of the PVC pipe and therefore the cabin.
- measure circumference of the mast and go to rigrite.com and replace parts as needed. My '91 has an Isomat NG-31 mast. Replaced the jib and main halyard and topping lift sheaves, all mast wiring, anchor light and steaming lights. The lights are available in the ships store here. The plastic sheaves had their sides worn off. (see new image).
Added Steering and Bearing rebuild document.
Dan
While in storage with the mast down check the following:
- The lightning ground between the compression post and mast base is probably corroded away at the mast base. (see new image)
- the lightning ground between the compression post foot and keel plate is probably corroded away at base of post. (the tab in the foot of the post had the wire had corroded away due to the post filling with water from the mast)
- make sure you get good drip loops in the cables when retyping the mast. Consider making the PVC pipe that penetrates the cabin a bit longer. We blocked the mast about a foot above the base plate and fed the wires through the PVC, added drip loops, then put in a nice squirt of silicone caulking to help keep water out of the PVC pipe and therefore the cabin.
- measure circumference of the mast and go to rigrite.com and replace parts as needed. My '91 has an Isomat NG-31 mast. Replaced the jib and main halyard and topping lift sheaves, all mast wiring, anchor light and steaming lights. The lights are available in the ships store here. The plastic sheaves had their sides worn off. (see new image).
Added Steering and Bearing rebuild document.
Dan
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Thanks Dan. That is very helpful- and thanks for the mast tuning post on another thread. i hope that i don't burden you with too many questions, but you sound like the one that knows the answers.