E35 II wheel steering problem

I have a 1972 E35 II. Recently on a trip back from Catalina I lost the wheel steering. When I got a chance to investigate, I found two steel plates, bedded to the hull and standing vertically, providing the backing for turning blocks for the steering. One of these plates had rusted through and broken off! Has anyone encountered this problem before? How did you fix it? My current plan is to grind out the bedding, fabricate a new plate, and rebed it...all through a small access hatch at the back of the quarterberth. :eek: Seems like there has to be a better way!
John Hamilton
Venteux
E35 II #258

I ground out what I think are the same plates early this year (if you can post a picture I will be able to confirm that).
If it is the same part, the two plates are connected at the bottom with steel strips that are glassed in with several layers of thick matt, and connected at the top by a steel bar. An absolute @#$% to remove completely, a better bet is to remove all the steel above the glass, and rebuild on top. I got through the main steel plates with a thick 4" metal grinder, and then pressed down as close to the hull as I could get, which left the area clear enough to work over. Rebuilding with enough strength is the kind of thing I leave to a professional as my glass skills are not good enough.
I did all this with the fuel tank and deck over it removed, going through that access hatch would be extremely painful, if possible. Grinding that close to a tank filled with fumes with your body stretching uncomfortably would have risks. Moving the fuel tank forward a few inches was fairly easy, I just removed one small piece of plywood bracing it (two screws); removing the fuel tank completely involves removing either the deck above it, or cutting access through one of the panels around it - although if it is original it may be close to the end of its life and need replacing soon (mine had pretty bad corrosion on the aft panel which I had not seen until it was out).

Good luck, not an easy task.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

Papillon has the same malady! After our trip to Port Townsend, I had noted that our steering seemed "sloppy". Our wheelpilot was having all sorts of fun steering a straight course. I didn't notice it as much when hand steering - it seems more intuitive and I just don't have to think about correcting each and every movement. But watching that pilot swing back and forth got me wondering what was going on. I emptied the starboard lazerette and removed the two access panels to expose the fuel tank/steering mechanism/rear of engine and transmission/shaft/shaft seal. I found a similar sight to what was described above. My sheaves for the steering are mounted on flat iron plates that appear to be welded to flat iron bar stock that runs across the inside of the bottom of the hull (under the bridgedeck below the steering pedestal) and is supposed to be glassed in with several layers of heavy mat. Well, the glass job has delaminated at the starboard end of this assembly, and if turning to starboard with good pressure on the rudder, the support for the sheaves lifts up off the hull about 1", causing the sloppiness. Yikes!
The manual shows the supports for these sheaves as being mounted to the underside of the bridgedeck and not being anywhere near the bottom of the hull. If I can duplicate this arrangement, I will just remove whatever I can from down below, clean it up and epoxy/paint over whatever is left. The boat came with a Benmar autopilot when we purchased it a few years ago, and this appeared to need some pretty beefy mounting. I wonder if the installation I have was done this way to facilitate the autopilot installation. I would hope that the Ericson "factory" glasswork would be to a better standard than what this appears to be.
BTW, the additional glass and mat appears to be just that, "additional". It looks like the bar was simply laid on the bottom of the hull at the appropriate spot, and then someone just slopped a whole bunch of fibreglass over top of it!