Rudder Port question

[Tony Meola]

I starting to plan for putting everything back together now that I have the new bulkhead in, strut pads replaced and built the new rudder shelf. I am looking at the rudder ports I have. They are the round one 11/4 diameter opening. They have a plastic spacer which looks like it formed a bushing up around the port tube. The spacer is cracked and should be replaced.

My question is, what do you use to make a new spacer and how do you handle the piece that forms the bushing? I am also going to be installing the larger rudders so I am thinking that I may even need a larger port since these do not look like there is room to bore them out.

If I need to replace them, any suggestions as to which ones to go with.

[Harry Babb]

Hey Tony
I believe that a good down to earth choice of material for the bushing will be Delrin.

I have made both rudder bushings as well as strut bearings out of Thordon......its expensive and quite difficult to work.

Stick with something simple and easy but BE SURE to read this and heed my warning..............

Several years ago (about 30 Years) I made a pair of bushing for a sail boat rudder. The rudder tube was out of round so after making the bushings and knocking them in I rounded up the bores and established a nice fit with an air grinder and an abrasive grind stone...........trust me! ! ! !.........it was a very nice fit and when the rudder was installed its fit was beautiful........no side to side motion........no slack..........I mean really nice.

Well the boat was launched and the owner was very happy with the job unitl the following weekend.........the rudder was stuck and could not be turned.............the tiller arm was 4 or 5 feet long.

We beat the rudder out of the boat with a sledge hammer........the bushing was stuck on the rudder.......I fixed the problem and the next weekend.............same problem............NOT GOOD

My mistake was that I made the bushing out of NYLON........at the time I did not know that nylon would absorb water and swell up.......seizing up on the rudder shaft.

Nylon will absorb about 2% of it's weight in water

DO NOT USE NYLON! ! !! !

Harry

[Tony Meola]

Harry

Thanks, but this bushing is on the outside of the tube. When I took them off there was no bushing on the inside. You would thing there would have been. I believe all this bushing is doing is making the port fit to the hole Bertram put in the hull.

Did you take yours down? I am assuming they are all pretty much the same except for the need of larger diameter tubes to fit the shaft.

[Harry Babb]

Tony
I did take my rudder ports out of my boat. The bolts broke off and following Capt Pats directions I had to heat the rudder port with a heat gun to soften the sealer before I could get the darn thing to move. The hole in the hull fit the OD of the rudder port very tight.

I did not understand that your bushing was on the OD of the tube.

What do you think about glassing up the old hole and redrilling it to the proper size????

Harry

[CaptPatrick]

Tony,

I'm too tired to even think straight tonight, much less go into a description of a fix... Call me tomorrow morning after about 9am your time.

Br,

Patrick

[Tony Meola]

Harry

You must have different ones. I did not get a chance today to catch up with Capt. Pat, rough day at the desk, but I am going to try and catch up with him by Friday to see what his fix is.

[CaptPatrick]

Tony,

The only ten minutes that I was away from the phone today was when you called... O'Brian's Law

1. Remove the ports. Put a thin coat of petroleum jelly on the flange & tube.

2. Grind the inside fiberglass to fresh material, (no 5200 or other non-fiberglass material)

3. Using heavy Visquine or other plastic sheet material, cut a hole somewhat smaller than the shaft tube & pull it over the tube. Let the tube stretch the visquine for a tight fit.

4. Using a 2" strip of the visquine, tightly wrap the visquine strip around the base of tube about 4 or 5 times. Cut off the excess & use a small piece of tape to secure it.

5. Re-install the port, now masked off with visquine. Nuts only have to be finger tight, no backing plates.

6. Mask off the nuts and bolts with blue tape & mask over that with aluminum foil crushed on.

7. Prime the fiberglass with mixed, but not thickened epoxy. Wipe off all excess epoxy, leaving the area thoroughly coated, but only damp with resin.

8. Mix another batch of epoxy & thicken it with West System high density filler or milled fiberglass. Add about 20% by volume of Cabosil, (fumated silica), to your HD thickener. Bring the mix to the consistency of peanut butter.

9. Pack the void around the shaft tube & level it with the surrounding original fiberglass. Carefully remove the aluminum foil only on the nuts & bolts.

10. Allow the epoxy to setup over night and remove the tape & the ports.

11. Sand the surface flush as necessary.

Br,

Patrick

[Tony Meola]

Capt. Pat.

Thanks, I think I got it. So what I am doing is I am filling in the hole and eliminating the bushing. That will put the brass tube tight in the hole.

For the spacer that goes against the outside of the hull, should I then just follow the instructions for spacer on the strut?

Given the weather report for up here it looks like another weekend with no work on the boat. I was hoping to make it in by June but that is not looking too good. Plus my family is not helping between weddings and suprise birthday parties on the weekends.

Might be another year out of the water.

[CaptPatrick]

Tony,

Yep, decreasing the hole diameter permanantly...

The port flange should be right against the outside of the hull, seperated only by 5200 bedding compound. Perfectly straight up & down isn't critical for rudders as is the alignment of propulsion shafts...

Br,

Patrick

[Tony Meola]

Capt. Pat

Thanks. I was trying to figure out how to make that angle work. Thought it was going to be a little tough. That will save me a ton of grief.

Tony