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I bought the boat knowing the rudder/steering was stiff. Negotiated this into the price.
It is NOT anything in the steering. Remove the cables from the rudder and the steering is smooth and easy.
I have tried injecting grease into the rudder post via a zerk and it seems to have loosened things up a bit, but not nearly enough.
There does not appear to be any damage to the rudder.
Are there bearings in the post or what? I'm considering dropping the rudder this winter, but don't know if that's the correct way to approach it. Nor do I know what to expect.
Just to hazard a guess judging by where you keep your boat (LI Sound) I'd guess you might have some barnacles and/or other growth slowing your rudder post down.
Am I misunderstanding the problem? If the Rudder moves freely with the cables disconnected, why are you focusing on the rudder? What type of system? Radial, Quadrant? shouldn't you be looking to see if the steering system requires attention?
I removed the steering cables from the rudder and the helm moved freely. The rudder however, was still hard to push by hand while disconnected from the steering mechanism.
Tempest is right -- fault isolation indicates the problem is not in the rudder or rudder stock, and instead is somewhere in the linkage. Keep narrowing down the fault based on that.
I think you should plan on dropping the rudder this winter. Once the rudder is down you should examine the post carefully to see the wear patterns, etc. I would store the rudder somewhere warm and dry for the winter and then see what needs to be done to the rudder in the spring before reinstalling (maybe just sealing it, or perhaps repair some voids, that sort of stuff).
Grease the rudder post before installing the rudder. On my boat there were plastic bearings that went on the rudder post, one below the tube and the other above. They were slightly different thicknesses and needed to be installed correctly otherwise the pin was difficult to put in and rudder was binding when turned (don't ask me how I found out).
I am not sure the rudder is not bent. The hull and rudder had been sanded and prepped for bottom paint the first time I looked at it. There was no damage, or repairs that I could see.
I guess the only way to find out is to remove the rudder.
I'm only a few weeks away from haul out so I guess it will be a winter project.
The problem might be that the stock itself is slightly bent above the rudder (maybe from a grounding or collision of some sort at one point) In some cases these can be satisfactorily straightened.
Is is possible to bend the stock without damaging the fiberglass? I think the rudder stock is solid stainless. Seems like something else would break before that rudder post bent. But, I'm not very knowledgeable in this department...
ive bent my rudder post without any damage to the rudder itself. Last year the hinge point holding the ridder bent due to weather helm and this year i noticed my tiller was more to starboard than usual. After we dropped the rudder there is barely some twist to it but enough to give a few inches of feedback at the tiller.
Rob,
Are you on cncphotoalbum.com? There are hundreds of C&C owners who have dealt with every sort of problem imaginable. If it is a common problem with that model, they will tell you. I don't recall the issue coming up in recent months for your boat.
Joel
You should also consider that the rudder tube has been over greased. C & C used a grease cup on the tube, same with Hinterhoeller. I've seen remote greasing tubes set up by owners to connect to where grease cup was tapped into the tube and lead to a more convenient location. Last one I dealt with was 82 year old owner over greasing (he thought it should be greased monthly whether it needed it or not) to the point grease oozed out from the top of the tube and also the laminate on the webbing reinforcing the hull/stock tube installation (looked like a previous repair too). Once the rudder was dropped and the tube cleaned and flushed the binding problem was gone. With rudder installed went back to grease cup arrangement and has had no problems.
Especially when salt water comes into play. If it were me, I'd get a "detail torch" down there and try and cook out all the grease that's in there now and then "re-grease". Big box stores like Lowe's/Home Depot sell the detail torch tip that uses the small canister LP bottles that outdoor "rail" grills use. Apply the heat liberally and you'll eventually see the grease start to bubble out. Then put the new in. I deal with this issue all the time on the play boat's steering tilt-tube.
All of that is taking into assumption that you've actually watched the cable move in and out of the sleeve while disconnected from the tube. Once I "thought" the cable was fine because the wheel would, in fact, turn easily when it was disconnected, only to find out that the wheel was just pulling in slack instead of functioning properly.
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