[C320-list] NOISY RUDDER HEAD

[JJ Morrison]

The rudder head on my boat is quite different from that shown in the Gerry Douglas repair suggestion; perhaps from a C30? In any event the top of the rudder post has a fiberglass collar held in place with a through bolt going through the aluminum rudder post.(This through bolt also serves to accept the emergency tiller). This fiberglass collar in turn keeps in place two nylon washers against the floor of the rudder post cavity. The bolt is too long for the cavity and must be aligned  with a hole in the side of the cavity in order to remove it. Be careful to make sure you mark how the collar comes off as on my boat the holes were drilled off center and will only fit one way. I then squirted a dry teflon lubricant around where the rudder stock fits into the rudder tube as well as on the nylon washers. The rudder stock in the tube does not have enough wear to insert mylar sheets. Hopefully this will fix the noisy problem and I'll need to get the rudder under load to confirm.CheersJohnM