E27 rudder post bushings

Hi to everyone on this fantastic site.I've been lurking here for a while and have finally found the E27 I was looking for.I'll be taking delivery of her on November 18 and sailing back home to the Keys + - 200nm.She is in great shape for a 74 with a good few upgrades but there is about a quarter inch of play from side to side on the rudder post.When I get back I have to have her hauled out for bottom paint and would like to repace the bushings and tighten things up but can't seem to find a source to buy ready made ones! I have searched this forum and found reference to the bushings being replaced but no details.
Have any of the E27 owners here done the work themselves or know where to buy them? Any help would be great! Thanks.Pretty isn't she?
Lloyd

Hi Lloyd! Welcome and congratulations! I just got my own E27 last month (below) . I know what you mean about the play in the rudder (you have a tiller, yes?). I haven't figured this one out, though have read that the rudder floats, so (as I understand it), you may be able to do this while the boat is still in the water (remove the cap and tighten up bolts, etc...). Can someone confirm this?

selous said:

Hi to everyone on this fantastic site.I've been lurking here for a while and have finally found the E27 I was looking for.I'll be taking delivery of her on November 18 and sailing back home to the Keys + - 200nm.She is in great shape for a 74 with a good few upgrades but there is about a quarter inch of play from side to side on the rudder post.When I get back I have to have her hauled out for bottom paint and would like to repace the bushings and tighten things up but can't seem to find a source to buy ready made ones! I have searched this forum and found reference to the bushings being replaced but no details.
Have any of the E27 owners here done the work themselves or know where to buy them? Any help would be great! Thanks.Pretty isn't she?
Lloyd

Click to expand...

Rudder Bushings

Our 1970 Ericson 32 also has play between the rudder rudder shaft and the sleave it comes through. So if you find bushings, please post the source.

As for the rudder floating, we pulled ours at the dock once, and to our surprise, it bobbed to the surface so fast it hit my partner in the head with a whack.

mverla

Ignacio Thanks, I like your boat,I would have liked the blue boot stripes more than red but the red is definitely better than a green one I looked at that needed paint Yes I have also been told it can be done in water but since the boat will be coming out anyway when I get back I think I'll do it then,doing it in the water involves removing the old bushing at the bottom of the fiberglass rudder tube which may be epoxied in,I think I'll take my chances with the quarter inch play until I get back home or try and shim the top and see if that helps for the trip home! I have read that if we get lucky sometimes it's just the top that needs shimming and it can be done with strips of plastic which can last for a couple years.

Mverla
I found these posts you may be interested in,it seems Edson makes a nice stuffing box for the E27 albeit pricey! Apparently the 32 has pvc ,bronze and other pipes within the existing fiberglass tube used as shims in which the rudder stock turns,these materials wear out and have to sometimes be cut out and replaced,not that big a deal but not one I would attempt in water I think! Thats real funny about the rudder popping up and almost braining your friend,ha ha!
Here are the posts,maybe you already saw them http://ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=5566

Here is another one on Edson's site specifically for the E27,just look past the steering gear to the end of the rudder/tiller nut(for want of better terminology),I believe they sell a kit with one for the top and one for the bottom. Oh crap! My browser is acting up but just type in "edson stuffing box for ericson 27 rudder post or something of that sort and it will come up! Cheers
Lloyd

It would be great to hear from any E27 owners who have dealt with this problem.

I all my rooting around on my E27 I have not found the stuffing box for the rudder post. How do I get to the darn thing? Is there a grease fitting on it? There is some play (maybe 1/16") in the post but I'm not concerned- or should I be? Is it leaking? I don't know.

To my knowledge, there is no stuffing box. The e29 manual downloaded from this site is mostly a random collection of single-page detail drawings labeled E27/E29, with different dates from the 70's. These drawings may or may not have anything to do with any specific boat. Anyway, the rudder drawing shows a fiberglass tube with a bronze bushing at the bottom. Apparently the deck plate acts as the top bushing. At least no top bushing is shown in the drawing. This tube rises above the water line, so water should not come through. My deck plate has a single zerk fitting. There is no mention of it in the manual. I try to remember to pump a buttload of grease into it every spring. (I took the grease gun to the boat yesterday, but there turned out to be only two squirts in it.) The grease ought to provide a sort of a secondary seal, in addition to lubricating the rudder shaft. When I had the boat on the hard, I filled it until grease came out the bottom. I did try to clean out the rudder tube, when the rudder was out, but I don't recall seeing any bronze in there - seems to me that it looked like PVC. But that drawing was dated seven years after my boat was built, so... presumably boats before that were different in some way?

The bit in the above posts about floating rudders seems like something from an alternate universe. My rudder is very heavy, contains a lot of steel, and I doubt very much that it floats.

Also, the problem with popping off the head fitting to simply have a look is that the two bolts holding the head fitting on are the only things that connect the rudder to the boat! It would be cool if the rudder assembly really was buoyant, but I would go under the boat and securely lash the rudder to cleats on both sides before attempting that! I did try to support it, but didn't realize how heavy it was, and the whole thing went crashing to the ground. :0

Rudders MAY be waterlogged and sink . . . . I have a 73 e27 I would not want to find out in the water . .. best to fool with this on the hard . . .

Bill,
here is a thread related to my rudder mischief last year or so ago.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...g-Rudder-how-to-s-on-an-Ericson-27&highlight=

On my set up there is a teensy little fitting to squeeze grease through, although I can't imagine I could squeeze much in there. I'll try a grease gun like toddster suggests. My rudder is connected with two different thru bolts in such a way that I could take off the cap and the rudder would still be attached by one bolt. I would not want to sail that way for certain. The bolts always struck me as lightweight given their job. Also, the fact that there is a space between the top of the rudder tube and the deck, and I can see into my cabin makes me wonder about that design.

My rudder post has a bronze bushing at the base. Mine was attached to the post and came out with the post. In so doing it slide up the post several inches unbeknownst to me at the time, so when I put the post back in took me awhile to figure out why it wasn't going all the way up. We painstakingly worked the bushing back down the shaft. One more thing that my 327 had was a mystery plate behind the rudder plate (see other thread), and I took Christian's advice that it was a rudder stop and replaced the plate and pipe (backing plate underneath). this has worked great to prevent oversteering. See pic. Jay

Thank you Jay. That thread was new to me. Very good. Bottom line: no packing gland on the 27. Correct?

The tiny bit of play on the rudder post is nothing for me to worry about which is great because I wasn't anyway.

To get grease down there it looks like one has to at the very least remove all the hardware: quadrant, tiller post, etc. if not drop the rudder completely, or maybe run some heavy lube down there.

I think it should be possible to drill and tap a hole for a zerk fitting anywhere along the tube that you have access. The manual says nothing about lubrication, however.

Correct. No packing gland. And probably the best way to add grease is to drop the rudder while on the hard. I had a couple of sawhorses and plywood underneath because as someone said it is heavier than it looks, much heavier.