[Public-list] Shaft Play, Crooked Tiller

Roger L. Kingsland rkingsland101 at ksba.com
Tue May 18 07:12:09 PDT 2004


Albergers,

When I wiggle my shaft (I'm not even going to touch that one) a get a fair amount of play (say 1/16" to 1/32").  A few weeks ago I was in a yard w/ two A30s on the hard and I wiggled their propeller shafts to discover one had a little less play than mine and the other almost none.  Any thoughts please on whether not I have a problem and, if so, how to fix it? 

Second and more wierd, when I steer the boat straight, the tiller is about 7% to the left of the center line 9(erhaps the previous owner sailed alot on port tack and wanted an aseire reach to the tiller).  I originally thought it would just be a matter of readjusting the tiller attachment to the rudder shaft (like the handle bars of a bike) but, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO; it looks like the shaft was actually imbeded in the rudder crooked!  The connection to the tiller has one of those keyways and rather than being at the top of the shaft facing forward, the keyway is slightly to port.  When I showed him pictures, Towney noticed that my rudder is not stock.  Rather than the nice curve upward to the trailing edge, the bottom is flat and the trailing edge is almost vertical.  Leads me to believe someone modified/replaced the rudder to increase the surface area (yes, I know it is not race legal but, I hope to be able to turn on a dime while crusing).  After pulling her out, I also noticed water oozing out of the leading edge just aft of the prop .

Short of grinding out the shaft and reglassing it onto the rudder at the correct angel, I am not sure what to do.  One thought. I have to make a wood steaming box for the new toe rail.  I could steam and bend the tiller in a lazy, asymmetrical "S" to "straighten out" the problem.  Might make for good cockpit cocktail conversation (tripple C).  Plus, I could research obscure languages for the translation for "crooked stick" and, if one sounded neat, rename the boat.

I plan to grind out the part where I noticed water oozing just to see what the problem is.  I will also look for evidence indicating if the rudder is new or a modified version of the original. Has any one rebuilt a rudder sufficiently to learn what's inside and how I might fix the problem?  Does anyone know where I might find a stock rudder?  Are the stealers going to ever again win the Super Bowl?

Thanks,

Roger Kingsland
Chief Boat Boy
PERFECT intentions, A30 #148
on the hard at N40° 33.945' W79° 51.260'
 
Author's Disclaimer; This email was produced exclusively by the sender and, in the interest of expediency, without the benefit of editing by others.  The sender, thank goodness, is a much better architect/sailor than speller/editor and, frankly, constantly laments an obvious flaw in "spell check," it does not know what the author is thinking.  Please accept the sender's sincere apologies for any "typos" that may appear in this document.  If present, they are certainly unintended and hopefully do not cloud the message, or spawn any unnecessary lawsuits.



More information about the Public-List mailing list