I shimmed my tiller-steered E26 with SS shim stock from McMaster-Carr: .015" on the bottom and .005" on the top. Only the top (where the rudder post comes into the cockpit) and the bottom (where the rudder post exits the hull) are bearing surfaces, so there is no need to shim the post its entire length. I greased it with SuperLube (a Teflon grease). This got rid of the play nicely.Teflon bearing material made from a nice-sized tube can't be machined thin enough for my bearing needs. I considered acetal/Delrin and brass. In the meantime I found some 302 stainless steel shim material that might work. I will be trying it this week.
Is there any reason NOT to use stainless for a bearing on a stainless rudder stock inside a bronze rudder tube? The shim stock is 0.015" and I will stack 3 shims on the stock, greased inside and out. That is 18 inches of shim that will end below the stuffing box.
Actually, I did not see a need to glue the shims. What I did was bend tabs around the perimeter of the shim. (See photo for a picture of the shims.) The bottom shim can't fall out because the top of the rudder blade would not let that happen, even if it were to slip down. Nor could it somehow work its way up the tube, as the tabs prevent that. As for the top shim, on my tiller steered E26 the rudder post comes up through a bronze bearing mounted on the cockpit sole. Here again, I bent tabs around the circumference of the shim, which sit over the top of the bearing; these keep it from slipping down the tube. The shim cannot come up because the rudder head prevents that.Mine could be fiberglass too, but as far as I can see or reach I don't see an edge where it would change to glass. Did you glue the shims into the tube or around the rudder stock?
Thanks.
Don't mind the question at all! :nerd:If you do not mind a question from up here in the third balcony, does this additional layer of material around the rudder shaft ever block the greasing points where the factory zerks are threaded into the tube?
Loren
If you do not mind a question from up here in the third balcony, does this additional layer of material around the rudder shaft ever block the greasing points where the factory zerks are threaded into the tube?
Loren
Hi Craig. Don't Know if it would work on Pilot Project, But I rember having a similar issue on my friends boat. We mixed up some graphite and epoxy, lubed the rudder shaft, and injected the graphite infused epoxy. once it set, we were able to rotate the rudder, and found it was a bit tight, so we removed it and honed out the epoxy to fit. Worked really well. Just an idea.....
Harold, and Jessie, Mischief Maker
Did you go with stainless shims as discussed earlier? And did you mount them similar to the way I did (i.e., cutting tabs and bending them over) or are they held in place some other way?Well, we lifted the boat and put the rudder back in today. And two shims are in place, one at the top and one at the bottom of the tube. No play in the shaft and it turns freely. The rudder isn't up permanently quite yet, but as soon as I tackle the flax packing on the stuffing box it will be time to put it all together and make sure the leading edge clearance with the bottom of the boat is ok.
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Several years ago, I found water inside the shaft and sucked it out, along with a couple tools that were down there. I added a new gasket to the cover for the top bearing in the cockpit floor and solved that problem.
Attached also are pictures of inside of the shaft today. It looks like there is a screw in the bottom of the shaft and that the foam or glue is visible and doesn't look like the shaft bottom is closed. These LED lights are really good at illuminating the space compared to incandescent bulbs. Is this what the bottom of the shaft should look like?
View attachment 15123
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