Here's a simple repair tip: The rudder on my '85 M-25 had a lot of slop in it, I tried shimming it up with fender washers between the rudder and castle, but still would have about 15 to 20 degrees of play when the tiller was pushed, the tiller is good and tight so all free-play was in the rudder pivot. I removed the rudder/tiller assy. Sunday night after I was done sailing and brought it home. The original pivot hole in the rudder is supposed to be 3/8" ID, it was getting closer to 1/2" and somewhat egg-shaped on one side. I went to a locally-owned ACE hardware store (they always seem to have a better selection of nuts, bolts, screws, etc.), found some 1/2" OD/ X 3/8" ID bronze bushings with shoulders on one end(length was about 1 1/4" each, I think). I ground down the length of the bushings until they would just fit together inside the castle when pointed at each other. Next, I took a 1/2" bit (you might want to go a 64th or 32nd undersize so you can get a light press-fit), and carefully drilled out the tighter of the two holes. The other was so egg shaped the bushing would slide freely in and out. I then took some steel-reinforced epoxy (the kind that comes in a stick and you activate by rubbing around in your fingers) it is water-resistant when cured and has a very high strength. I filled in around the inside of the egg-shaped hole to make it rounder. I pushed in the bushing in the opposite side, then pushed the other bushing into the repaired hole while the epoxy was still pliable. I inserted the pivot bolt through the bushings to get allignment, packed in more epoxy into the hole with a flat blade screwdriver, and pushed the bushing on the repaired hole until it was flush. This will push the other bushing out about 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. Then I put more epoxy around both bushings and packed it until it made a smooth angle from the surface of the keel to the shoulder on the bushing. The shoulders provide a wear surface for the rudder to pivot, and also act as spacers between the rudder and castle. The end result is, there is now almost zero play (I'd guess less than a degree) in the rudder when the tiller is pushed. If you have access to a machine shop, you might see if you can get custom-made stainless bushings as they will be harder than bronze, but if you don't this is a repair that cost less than $10, and should last for quite a while. The bronze bushings will last a lot longer if you put some axle grease on the bolt prior to inserting it.
