Removing Rudders

[JohnV8r]

Guys,

I'm having a tough time finding a step by step process on removing the rudders with the search function for the site. Will someone enlighten me on the process please? New rudder shelf is ready to go in. I need to remove the old equipment to reinforce the struts and rudders first.

Thanks!

[Tony Meola]

John

If you are upgrading the rudders and the old ones are stuck just use a sawzall. It is over in ten minutes.

Search for John Nardi,spist on that subject.

Otherwise loosen the packing gland and then the bearings. Mine were frozen in the bearings and would not drop out. I spent a few hours trying, and out of desperation asked the yard to do it.

They called me and said if you are putting in new rudders your opions are we beat on them for 8 hours or spend 10 minutes with the sawzall. We opted for the sawzall.

[John F.]

John-

It depends on the type of rudders you have. Some have the tiller arm at the top of the rudder above the shelf, others have the tiller arm below the rudder shelf. The set-up on Crows Nest (1977) is the above shelf type. On mine, I first spray a real lot of Corrosion X on everything. I then disconnect the tiller arms. The next thing is the collar that keeps the rudder fro dropping out of the boat. Its a round metal thing with a big bolt that acts as a set screw on the rudder. Unscrew the set screw/bolt, and slide the collar off. Make sure you have something between the ground and bottom of the rudder blade so the rudder doesn't drop out of the boat. Next should be your bearing. Mine were big flange ball bearing things. They were completely corroded, so the inner bearing race was frozen to the rudder shaft. I wasted a couple hours the first time trying to use a gear puller, etc. Then I cut the bearing off with a cutting wheel, sawzall, hammer, and a few cold ones. I'm with Tony's yard--go right to the sawzall/cutting wheel. At this point, your rudders should slide down and out. You should also loosen your rudder packing gland.

When I reassembled, I didn't use a big flange ball bearing. Rather, I used a bronze rudder bearing. They're basically a flanged bronze bushing. They've worked find for the past 3 years. I highly recommend them over the flange ball bearings.

Reassembly is a lot easier. Have fun.

[JohnV8r]

Thanks Guys!

My tiller arm is on top of the shelf too. I have a lot of pitina on my port rudder post; not so much on my starboard.



I'm glad to have the advice about going straight to the cutting wheel/sawsall on the bearings.

I saw Hightide Marine has replacement Bertram 31 rudder parts. Is that where you got the flange style bronze rudder bearing replacement for the original style rudder bearing? I would rather put the upgraded parts on now than wish I had ten years from now.

Thanks!

[Tony Meola]

I put a stainless steel bearing and stop collar on mine. I converted to Capt Pat's rudders. Well worth the money I can't and turn on one engine.

[Marlin]

Rudders ,struts ,shafts need to be considered as a total package in the rebuild thought process. Considerable thought should enter into the decision process in the running gear with the type of power to be used in the future. Put all these elements on a piece of paper and don't rush to make decisions on issues like rudder selection. The horse power,torq, ,gas vs diesel, transmission ratio, prop diameter, / pitch ,shaft material and diameter ,strut configuration( backer plate) , even the use of bronze vs stainless steel fasteners are all important considerations . This shouldn't be a knee jerk decision. I spent severalyears gathering as much info as I could to guide me into a good economic choice. I was lucky enough to have a good teacher,sounding board in the Capt, now we don't have that luxury. I went thru several sets of wheels, several sets of rudders until I added all the elements into the equation. I live in the south east Florida area with an abundance of custom boat builders. I also have a 42' custom boat that would not turn under mid speed and top speed conditions. My 31 Bertram also responded similarly . I had my 42 up in Stuart for the summer bottom job and the owner of Stuart Propeller looked at my rudders and immeadily started asking about the performance with just a walk by observering the wheels and rudders. I changed rudders, tweaked the wheels and solved the steering problem. Went from a 30 knot cruise to 28 knots, but significant control so I didn't have to worry about dodging channel markers again. I also changed to his suggested rudder design and experienced better turning. Stuart Propeller has fabricated running gear for many years for rybovich,Merritt, and Jim Smith because they do the engineering up front. Lots to consider to make a better performing boat

[JohnV8r]

Thank you John F! You're instructions were spot on.

I got lucky. My flange bearings were not corroded/frozen to the rudder shafts. However, there were still a couple of issues. The rudders initially slid right down to the top of the post where it becomes square. From there, they stuck and would not go the last inch or so. I tried hammering them, etc, but that didn't work. Visually, they did not look out of the ordinary. However, after dicking around for two hours I finally FELT the the top of the rudder shaft and realized it had pancaked out about 1/32 - 1/16". Some of that was from the hammering. However, the starboard rudder post had the same pancaked width difference on the top.

I fixed the port rudder with a side grinder by leveling the sides, grinding the sharp corners slightly, and putting a minor chamfer on the top edge. Same with the starboard. Both literally slid right out.

I'm sure UV was smiling somewhere as I had liberally coated everything with Corrosion X per your recommendation. Not one screw refused to turn and the pitina on the rudder posts had all but disappeared in 24 hours after soaking in CX. It took me me an hour or two to pull my head out of my ass and realize why I couldn't get the last inch to go. Once I figured it out, it was fairly painless.

I hope that helps the next person.

Thanks again John F!