[Public-List] Rudder shaft tube

[Michael Connolly]

Hi Bill, 

On my boat there is a flanged bushing screwed to the raised fiberglass "cone" around the rudder stock in the cockpit. This is the upper "bearing" surface for the rudder stock. The middle bearing is the gudgeon and pintle and the lower bearing is the rudder shoe. The rudder tube just makes the passage of the rudder stock water tight, or I should say prevents water level water from entering the bilge. In some sea conditions or passenger loading conditions water will travel up the tube and through the upper bushing and into the cockpit. Not to worry it will drain out the cockpit drains. On later boats Whitby installed a stuffing box on the rudder tube below the cockpit sole to help prevent water from traveling up the tube and into the bilge.  Personally I like the earlier system better. Who cares if some water comes up into the cockpit?  Whereas the stuffing box under the cockpit sole is out of sight so you really can't see if it leaking badly and it is very difficult to reach to adjust. 


Since you almost have everything apart I would go ahead and remove the rudder stock tiller fitting and drop the upper rudder stock out of the boat. Then inspect very carefully the inside of the tube to determine if there has been any places worn through the tube by the rudder stock. Water will leak into the bilge via any holes worn through the tube. This tube is visible from inside the boat but it is very tough to reach to make repairs. While you have the rudder off the boat, I would also inspect and make any repairs to the aft end of the keel.  On my boat the fiberglass finishing work in that area was lousy and I plan to improve on it by filling gaps and places where water might enter the keel/bilge area. 

Now perhaps you can help me out with some information. Is your boat a fresh water boat? How badly were the five bronze screws corroded which held the upper rudder stock to the blade? I will need to remove mine to either tighten or replace. I am a little worried about making a mess of the rudder blade while I attempt to remove those bolts. I just might have the same floating pin used in the pintle/gudgeon set that you have. I don't have mine apart yet but when I pivot the rudder the pin seems fixed to the part on the keel, so I assumed that the pintle was mounted on the keel, which is backwards from most boats. But if the pivot pin is floating then there is no pintle and two gudgeons instead, with a floating pin. In theory, this is a better system because it affords more surface area to wear during operation. So perhaps Whitby used four different systems over the years for the middle rudder hinge arrangement? Where did you purchase the silicone bronze rod?  Would 5/8" also be available? Thanks very much for your assistance. 

Michael #133 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Bill Boyle" <wpb1210 at yahoo.com> 
To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2013 7:17:59 PM 
Subject: [Public-List] Rudder shaft tube 

I'd like to start by saying thanks to all who responded to my 
questions on fixing the pin on the bottom of the rudder.  I'm in that 
process now.  We have removed the rudder.  That was a relatively easy 
job.  Our boat has the two part shaft and we removed the 5 bolts 
holding the rudder to the upper shaft.  We then removed the two 
gudgons, one on the keel and the other on the rudder.  They were held 
together with a pin that had been worn down to half it's size. The 
pin was not secured in either part.  It was free floating. I have a ½ 
inch silicon bronze rod that I'll use as a replacement for both pins. 

This is an older boat and we have the fiberglass tube  that runs 
from the inside bottom of the boat to the bottom of the cockpit sole 
where the shaft goes through.    The tiller head and the shaft have a 
lot of play in that tube.  I haven't taken that off yet.  Can anyone 
tell me what is inside the tube in the way of bearings that might 
need to be replaced?  Since the rudder is off I just have to take the 
tiller head off and the shaft should just fall out of the boat. 

Any thoughts are welcome. 

Bill Boyle 
Slainte 
#129 

  

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