[C320-list] Dropping Rudder

[Stord at aol.com]

To All,
It was an interesting last week.  I found a little play in my  cutlass 
bearing while the boat was hauled for painting.  It was rock solid  horizontal, but 
had a little play vertical.  If all you do is pull sideways  on the shaft to 
see if it or the strut move, you won't feel the vertical  play.
 
I've got a Martec three bladed feathering prop installed and  didn't want to 
drill out the locking pin holding the locking nut to  the shaft.  I was also 
at a DIY marina and they didn't have the tool needed  to push out the bearing 
with the shaft still installed, so I needed to get the  shaft out to replace 
the bearing.
 
I had never dropped a rudder before, so the first step was to look at the  
Edson steering system.  It's fairly simple and comes apart in two large  pieces. 
 I then looked at the rudder to see how it was held in place.   There is one 
large bolt at he top of the shaft where the emergency tiller goes  that holds 
it in place. Since it all looked fairly simple, I started.
 
The next step was digging a hole to drop the rudder.  I  estimated 24 to 26 
inches to get the clearance on the rudder shaft.   Unfortunately, I ran into a 
large rock at 24 inches that I couldn't get  out.  I dropped the rudder hoping 
it would clear the bottom of the  boat.  It didn't.  The marina offered to 
lift the  boat another 6 to 8 inched "for a small fee."  Since the rudder was  
down, but couldn't be moved out, I accepted.  He lifted the boat  approximately 
8 to 12 inches and I had plenty of clearance.  He reblocked  me at that 
height, so I would have the clearance to get the rudder back  in.  In the future I 
will plan on 30 inches minimum to get the rudder shaft  clear, if I need to do 
it again.  Also plan on a couple of helpers to lower  and raise the rudder, 
while you're in the cockpit working the bolt at the top of  the rudder shaft.
 
The couplings on the shaft at the transmission game apart easily enough  when 
the bolts were removed, but the coupling on the shaft was stuck even after  
the shaft pin was tapped out.  After liberal use of WD-40 and some  
encouragement from my hammer, the coupling slowly slid of the shaft.  I had  previously 
sanded the shaft to remove all of the "growth" that had built up, so  it slid 
out of the strut fairly easily.  Did I say the yard didn't have a  bearing 
puller?  This is really a DIY yard.  In any case, after  talking to a Catalina 
mechanic at a Catalina facility, I used a large socket  from my ratchet set and 
my hammer to tap the old bearing out.  Of course,  it went a little faster once 
I loosened the two allen screws in the side of the  strut.  
 
While waiting for the new bearing to arrive, I took fine sand paper and  
sanded the inside of the strut, the coupling and the end of the  shaft.  With a 
little WD-40, the new bearing went in easily.  The  shaft went back in.  I was 
concerned about getting the coupling back on the  end of the shaft since it had 
been difficult to get off.  Again, WD-40 and  my hammer did the job.  The 
slot for the locking pin wasn't perfectly lined  up, so I put one of the bolts in 
the coupling and tapped it sideways until the  slot lined up.  Even with 
WD-40, it took a little encouragement to get the  pin in the slot.  I then lined 
up the couplings and tightened them.
 
The rudder went back in easily enough, but the tolerance on the bolt at the  
top of the shaft was very tight and it took a little work to get it in.  It  
was like the bushings on the rudder had expanded just enough to make it  
difficult.  Once the rudder was in, putting the Edson steering quadrant  back 
together was relatively easy.  The hardest part about that process was  the lack of 
room to see and move in back there.
 
We finished painting the boat and splashed it two days later.  On  motoring 
back to our marina, there was a significant vibration from the  motor/shaft.  I 
know the tolerances are tight on the shaft/transmission  couplings and I felt 
I had been careful with them.  Nevertheless, something  wasn't right.  I know 
that boats on blocks don't necessarily have the same  shape as they do when 
they're in the water and I hoped that might be the  problem.  We got to our 
marina, tied up and called it a day.  I went  to the boat the next day and 
disconnected the shaft/transmission  couplings.  I ran the motor with the shaft 
disconnected to get a baseline  vibration.  The motor itself had some vibration.  
I then slid the two  couplings together and slowly rotated the shaft while 
keeping the transmission  coupling still.  I could not see or feel (with a gap 
feeler) any  gaps.  I then tightened the bolts on the couplings 1/4 turn each 
while  rotating the shaft until they were all equally tight.
 
We took the boat out today and the excess vibration is gone.  I think  the 
problem was caused by the boat flexing a little on the blocks and my  tightening 
the shaft at that time.  In any case, it was a project that I  hadn't 
anticipated, but I'm glad I did.  I'm a lot more familiar with some  of the major 
components of the boat and would be comfortable doing maintenance  on either one 
of them again.  My only regret is that I didn't take my  camera so I could 
post pictures of the process on the web site.
 
Fair Winds,
Steve Lunsford
s/v Joy 756