Greetings. I need to remove my rudder to do some reconditioning over the winter but don’t know how to get it off, and couldn’t find it in the manuals. Any help is appreciated!
Ken Julian
NS26C #9 “Idyll Ours”
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Ken,
I know I’ve seen discussions on this in the group. If you don’t get an answer, try using the search bar at the top of the page (as shown here) and look for discussions that mention rudders.
Also, if you’re an INA member, go to Nonsuch.org, select the Members menu, on that menu select Members Tips & Projects, and from there download “Resealing Rudder Post Tube - Posted January 2020”.
– Bob
Solar Wind
Nonscuh 26C #143
V
Thanks for those suggestions Bob. I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for but I think I can figure out what I want to do from them. Cheers.
Ken J.
Ken,
At least a week before you try to remove the rudder you will need to put a penetrating oil or similar product (PB Blaster) on the bolts holding the steering cables and quadrant in place. They have a tendency to seize up and you don’t want to break them if you can avoid it. Both the cables and the quadrant will have to come off. There is a key on shaft to hold the quadrant in place.
La Reina came with a 3" dia. dome style nut on the top of the rudder post. It had holes for two set screws in it. They have to be removed. Some boats may have two set screws in each hole. The holes are about 120 degrees apart. I was able to get an 18" pipe wrench into the access hole at the back of the cockpit but there was not much room to turn it. It was easier to hold the wrench and have another person turn the rudder to loosen the nut. The set screws may have damaged the threads on the rudder shaft so you may have to work to remove the nut.
The rudder is heavy so you will need to support it. Two strong determined people could probably lower it. Three would be better. We lifted the boat and used a fork lift to lower the rudder.
The rudder shaft is long enough that you will either need to lift the boat or dig a hole if you need to remove the rudder completely rather than just lower it.
Hope the description helps.
Mark Powers
La Reina 26C
Vancouver, B.C.
Thanks for your reply, Mark. That sounds like a major process - one that I would like to avoid if possible! I just need to work a moisture problem at the bottom of the rudder which I should be able to do with it on. I was advised (poorly) that it would be just as easy to take the rudder off & work with it in a workshop.
Ken J.
The 26 drawing says 43 1/4 inches for the clearance required to get the rudder shaft out of the hull. By my measurement you need about 1145mm or 45 inches so the drawing is probably good.
On my cradle, blocked the usual way, there is only 500mm between the bottom of the rudder and the pavement.
This means the rudder could only be removed/installed when the boat is slung high in the travel lift unless big hole can be dug.
The top nut (note there are two setscrews) and the quadrant were easy to remove, however the key was stuck in its slot in the shaft and took hours of persuasion and cursing to free up.
Tom
26C #28 North Star
Penetang
You have received sound advice regarding the removal of the rudder. PB Blaster is the chemical of choice for freeing up the nuts on the quadrant and for loosening up the key in the rudder shaft. The quadrant has three sets of bolts that need to be loosened: 1) around the base of the shaft, these are clearly visible 2) around the rim of the quadrant. smaller in size and difficult to see, end wrenches work well here 3) the sets of double nuts that tension the steering cables, they are tough to work on as the positioning is difficult.
I had a rather severe leak that required pulling my boat shortly after launch. The yard pulled the rudder for me when they pulled the boat out after I loosened the quadrant and removed the set screws from the rudder nut. I think they charged a half hour labor, but it was money well spent. I did have another charge for replacing the rudder, naturally, but again, it was not an excessive fee.
When I removed my rudder I found that all three of the gussets were rotted and needed to be replaced, so while your rudder is out you should carefully inspect the gussets for splitting. The leak you are seeing is due to the failure of the epoxy around the bottom of the rudder shaft opening. I think the leak that I had was ongoing for several years before I had purchased my boat. I have detailed the process for replacing the gussets in an earlier post.
Contact me directly if you would like to discuss.
Randy Gadikian
Paisley Moon
NS 26 C
Buffalo New York
Thanks for all the information Bob, Mark, Tom, & Randy. This sounds like a job none of you want to repeat and I hope isn’t necessary for me at this point. I hope I can fix my moisture issue without removing the rudder but I will definitely have a good look at shaft, gussets, etc. that were mentioned.
Ken Julian
NS 26C #9 “Idyll Ours”
Fredericton, NB
Actually I would approach it differently this time and I think I could do it in about 10 hours over three days.
Randy