Play in rudder stock

[Sabre27Admin]

Iain C
United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - 10/03/2010 : 14:43:47
I've got quite a bit of play in my tiller...it would appear to be coming from where the tiller hood and the block part of that hinge bolted to the rudder stock join. It's fine upwind, but feels a bit 'orrible on a run where there's little load on the helm...it translates to about 2" of movement at the end of the tiller and it will only get worse.

Has anyone succesfully eliminated this play? The bolts themselves seem to have enlarged their respective holes somewhat, so I was thinking about a combination of extending the bearing areas by way of a tube running all the way across the stock part of the joint, with a piece of rod running inside that to form the hinge. It could almost be an interference fit, as you would have such massive leverage on the tiller to move it up to the stowed position, it would not matter if it was a bit stiff, as long as the rod moved before the tube.

Might also need some shims (old feeler gauges?) fixed to the sides of the tiller block as well in some way.

Anyone have any experiences with this?

robbyc0
United Kingdom
25 Posts

Posted - 15/03/2010 : 12:57:42
Bigger bolts?

I seem to remember fixing this on ine this way

Iain C
United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - 18/03/2010 : 20:44:39
Spoken to Paul and should all be sorted. With my bargain second hand Spinlock extendable tiller extension ready to go on, helming is about to be a much more pleasurable experience!