Yamaha 26c

[glsski]

I own and am refitting a Yamaha 26c here in Arizona.
I pulled the rudder and found a few small issues. The Tiller bronze has been riding on the chrome tiller shaft collar at the base of the tiller. I think I can make it work but a replacement would be interesting if it could be found.
The rudder is in great condition. When removing the rudder there was a brass bushing about 8 to 10 inches in length and the rudder shaft was covered in epoxy at the location of the bushing. The bushing was very thin and had lost some material. A replacement of this bushing is needed. I have read that the factory bushing was plastic?

Any information on this would be appreciated.

Greg Szymanski

 

[jssailem]

I suspect you will need to find a machine shop to make you a metal replacement. That assumes you have a model they can use to build a new one.

 

[dlochner]

The bushing was very thin and had lost some material. A replacement of this bushing is needed. I have read that the factory bushing was plastic?

HMWPE is a common rudder bushing material. Tides Marine makes them.

Is the tiller head fitting cast bronze or bronze plate? If it is cast a good foundry, like Port Townsend Foundry or Mystic River Foundry can cast a new on from the original. They can do this even if there is some wear on the part.

Home - Tides Marine | Marine Industry Products

www.tidesmarine.com

 

[glsski]

 

[dlochner]

The black tubes inside the rudder shaft are probably Tides Bearings.

The bronze rudder head with the deep grooves can probably be repaired by a good bronze welder who can fill in the grooves and polish it. You might call Martec Props in Prescott AZ and inquire if they would take this on. They mostly work with Bronze props, however, they might be willing to take a look or make a referral.

There is evidence of corrosion on the rudder shaft. Hard to tell how significant it is from a photo. The failed sealant where the shaft enters the rudder is also a concern. Water will enter at the failed sealant and can cause the metal inside the rudder to corrode. The only way to tell is to open up the rudder and take a look. It also looks like the rudder has slipped down the rudder post. There is a section of the post that is shiny and this is about where the corrosion is. SS will corrode when is in an oxygen deprived moist area, that description would fit at the top of the rudder. Water can seep in, the oxygen reacts with the SS when the oxygen is used up, the SS starts to corrode (that's an ultra simple explanation). The shaft could have moved from the fingers welded to the shaft have separated from the shaft or the foam inside the rudder has deteriorated, or there were no fingers welded to the shaft, or any combination of the above.

The SS deck flange looks very worn. The screw holes are ovals, not round. The bronze was probably a bearing surface for the rudder head.

 

[Blue Horizon]

Hi Glsski -

I'm a Yamaha 30 owner. I'm in Vancouver. I've taken out the rudder when I had some rubbing sounds so I know the feeling when something doesn't sound right. Looks like you had some rubbing on your skeg (perhaps from a warn collar bearing but that's hard to tell from your pics. I'm not familiar with the Yamaha 26 (what year is it?) but I wouldn't be surprised if many of the parts are at least the basic system is the same.

Yours looks like the same tiller system as mine. (the wheel and quadrant option Yamaha's in the US apparently used hybrid stuffing box that is explained in the Yamaha 30 manual but I've never come across one). And a number of parts you have in photos look very similar to mine if not the same.

Most rudder systems in 80's boats are very rudimentary. Yamaha was simple but genius working with a floating rudder. Mine still floats after 43 years. And I've looked at four others in our marina and their's float too. Yamaha sailboats of the 80's era where epic for engineering and build. So well built. For the floating rudder, the idea is it would put minimal weight on the basic bearing surfaces (that top plate with the elevated crescent that is actually also a check stop for over rotation) and the bottom plastic berring as the boat bobbed up and down.

The way to test is to simply push down on the tiller shaft while the boat is in the water. It should go down about 1/4" or more and then float back up.

I wouldn't take your rudder apart just yet. I'd see if it floats first. The rudder and shaft weigh about 60lbs. Walk it into the water upright with a friend. You'll find out pretty quick if it just holds it's own as it should. If it doesn't then yes you likely have some ingress. I'd get a quote on that because that might not be cheap to put it back together. Perhaps there other ideas.

My shaft bearing was made of a type of white plastic like a cutting board. It was about 6" high - looked like a beer can without top and bottom. Very basic and held in with marine adhesive so that one day in the future it could be replaced. It hadn't been installed exactly centered. So my solution was unique and it required doing a bit of grinding in the shaft hole lip with coats of epoxy primer and I was good to go. Your bearing is worn and that's all you need to replace by the looks of it. Plastic or bronze probably doesnt matter. Find your shaft diameter Inner and outer with some spare for the adhesive and that likely would do it. Grease the shaft before you put it back - the yard probably would suggest which marine grease to use for that application.

As far as the upper bearing goes you do need to just grease them a bit. One of my neighbours had his wear out a bit and he just got a metal fab guy to build it back up.. Mine is fine.

As far as the shaft wear or scoring I doubt the yard would suggest you do much about that except clean it but get their advice - they've seen lots of these. It's not like an engine bearing or some such thing.

The advice I got from every one is that rudder shafts and their bearing are not precision stuff. That was true for my boat. Your bearing looks like it just needs to be replace with a generic collar (mine was about the size of a beer can).

Here's a link to all of the Yamaha sailboat manuals including the Yamaha 26C

Yamaha 36 Sloop - SV Aquila - Yamaha Sailboat Manuals

Yamaha 25 Manual

sites.google.com

All thoughts above are only my experiences so take real advice from a professional in a yard. There's a guy

Let us know how you make out. If you want to chat about it on a call let me know.

Cheers!

Peter

 

[glsski]

Just an update I have not gotten very far. I have copper coated the bottom and working on cleaning and prepping the rudder post. Rudder is in good condition and I am working on giving the shaft a little more of a polish. Then in the coming week I am going to do a graphite and resin pour into the rudder post and hope that creates the bearing I need. Thank you for the responses and input from previous posters. I finally obtained a slip at the marina in Lake Pleasant Arizona. So I need to get this together and in the water.