Before you take any action you should know how your rudder & bearings are designed!
For sailing boats the two most used bearing designs are bronze or plastic bushings.
Bronze - a special kind of bronze, sometimes called bearing bronze as it has a "oily" feel - shall be regularly greased. There is usually a nipple somewhere for this. When it becomes old, the rudder easily wobbles when sailing.
Plastic -most often Delrin- is water lubricated. Shall not be greased - that could even harm the bushing. When getting old, the bushing swells due to increased water in the plastic. The swell results in a stiff rudder.
If a stiff rudder, and particularly with a delrin bushing, one should fix that ASAP! If unlucky the rudder may be impossible to dismount without destroying rudder and maybe areas around it (google and you will find).
Most likely you have to haul to inspect and fix the issue. To replace a (most often lower) bushing is more easy than one may think.
/J
For sailing boats the two most used bearing designs are bronze or plastic bushings.
Bronze - a special kind of bronze, sometimes called bearing bronze as it has a "oily" feel - shall be regularly greased. There is usually a nipple somewhere for this. When it becomes old, the rudder easily wobbles when sailing.
Plastic -most often Delrin- is water lubricated. Shall not be greased - that could even harm the bushing. When getting old, the bushing swells due to increased water in the plastic. The swell results in a stiff rudder.
If a stiff rudder, and particularly with a delrin bushing, one should fix that ASAP! If unlucky the rudder may be impossible to dismount without destroying rudder and maybe areas around it (google and you will find).
Most likely you have to haul to inspect and fix the issue. To replace a (most often lower) bushing is more easy than one may think.
/J