Marina

[Norman]

aye mark, its high on the list of "regular checks" but I feel comfortable its simply a little wear and tear over the period of 11 yrs and I`ll replace if/when it seems to need it. (probably over egging it when I say a couple of mm )

but your comments noted for next "out of water" check

cheers

norm

[northeast1]

Its amazing how a thread about the marina being frozen can turn into the above......great read thou lads

[The Jester]

Just goes to show that even when there's no fishing going on, there's always something interesting to talk about . I'm going to check my rudder for play tomorrow and hopefully get a few hours uptiding in...

[Ankle-Biter]

Just goes to show that even when there's no fishing going on, there's always something interesting to talk about . I'm going to check my rudder for play tomorrow and hopefully get a few hours uptiding in...

If you need a second opinion, I'll have a good look and then a bit of uptiding sounds good.

[northeast1]

Check your water pipes before you fire up your engine as 2 seasons ago i went out in Jan and the impela for the engine was frozen up resulting in a new one required and a couple other bits that needed changing.

Be nice to see a catch or even none catch report.....if you land 200+ cod it may tempt me to go out in winter boating...mmmrrr better make that 300+ after looking outside.

[Ankle-Biter]

Speaking of impellers, I recently picked up a "Vintage" outboard engine the other day.

It's become a bit of a hobby of mine recenlty, doing up old outboards.

Anyway I picked up this 1970 Tomos 4hp with a view of it becoming an aux engine for my Wilson Flyer.

After a few hours of adustments, grease and swear words, is now running like a dream, and get this its air cooled so no water pump.
But the weirdest thing of all is no gears, starts then you go, if you want to stop then switch it off.
I now have 7 outboards, the wife is going nuts.

[The Jester]

Thanks for that advice , i've just looked at the webcam and the sea is spot on. 200+ cod Richy HMMM, now there's a challenge .
"Been working outside on a building site all week up Ashington, twisting like hell about the cold, and now about to go out fishing in it",,,,the missus says ,,,they just dont understand do they...

[Norman]

Update on Rudder ........

Just bringing this thread back to the top and adding a bit of an update.
Its now April 6th 2011 the seasons nearly started ........................

Was down at the boat last weekend and ran up the engine turned the prop warmed everything up ...... but, I could feel a little "unbalance" somewhere. Didn't take long to make the decision, after lifting the rear seatbox to wiew top of rudder it could be seen to be vibrating "just a little too much" .... so, no choice really, time for a fix.

I`ve spent the last 5 or 6 months trying to get an answer from Ocqueteau or dealers about this particular problem as in do you have a spares kit? how much? and when can I have it? but always with delays and never an answer, however time had overtaken me and it was time to take the bull by the horns ... remove the old and simply make new... (or miss the start of the season) I`ll worry about how when I get the old bearings out.
Inspection from above showed me that the top bearing was made of white delrin so I expect the bottom would be the same.
Delrin being a good all round material for water laden parts with a low water absobtion rate of 0.9% by volume and good frictionless properties.
(water absorbtion meant that I had to turn the new bearings with an oversize bore to allow it to tighten up (oversize by 0.18mm on a 30mm shaft)

So there it was Tuesday morning Slinky Lifted out and set on blocks (lifted with a minimum of 500mm below the rudder to the ground to allow me to drop out.
First was the removal of the skeg (again to allow rudder to drop) this I had expected to be difficult as it is held on by 2 stainless steel M12 bolts which have never seen the light of day and have 10 years of antifoul over the top ................. after chipping the anti foul away I sprayed with plus gas left for 30 mins then set about with a ring spanner and a socket ... surprisingly Nee Bother ....
At this point by the way I could wobble the rudder sideways some 6mm in the tube.
Next was removal of the steering gear at the top end and the main thrust retainer ... again, surprisingly nee bother at all
At this point the rudder should have been dropping to the block of wood below however it still took a little bit of pursuation from above ... this I later found to be due to the top bearing being still a very good fit.
After finally persuading the rudder down and out from underneath the real reason for the loosness could be seen ................................

not a problem with wear, just one of design..... The top bearing as can be seen below is capped, this cap forms the thrust washer and bearing all in one and ensures the bearing stays at the top of the tube.
(The tube by the way I now can see is parallel with no recess in the ends for the bearings)
The lower bearing had (i believe) been simply glued/glassed/silicon in place which had released and the lower bearing had risen up the shaft/tube to sit just underneath the upper bearing thus no lower bearing was there, hence the slop.

The fix ....
The top bearing was fine and ok to re use, the lower bearing although fine on size I discarded and made a new one with similar dimensions (but allowing for water retention) and added a capped head making it captive.
likewise I c/bored the nylon66 rudder cap to accomodate this to ensure all working lengths remained the same.

Fitted back together with water resistant grease on the rudder shaft and a smear of silicon on the od of the bearings to take up any gap and allow for any expansion.
All fit fine with rudder turning freely and no slop side to side

(I Hope I got the allowances right )


by the way apart from lift out costs etc the delrin cost £20 (although I used only 20% of it) and now eventually I have prices for new parts (at old design) approx £200 plus VAT Plus delivery (of 2 weeks) from France

Just the anti foul to do this weekend and then it's get out there time .........

just a few pics to explain

At Lift out the top of rudder with anti-fouled nylon66 cap (difficult to see anything past this so its all in the dark from here on .... )




The original old set of bearings after removal




My Trusty Mini Lathe ...........




The aftermath of bearing manufacture




Old Bottom bearing and New Bottom bearing with cap




The new bottom bearing into the now counterbored Nylon Cap





The new set ....





Fully assembled and skeg replaced .... ready for anti-foul



I hope this helps any prospective bearing changes anyone may have , It's really not too much bother ....

Mark ..... I did think of adding a pintle bearing on the skeg at this point in time but since there was not really any serious wear then I though any support I gained may be lost in the difficulty of aligning an end bearing (my mini lathe just wouldnt spin the rudder shaft )

cheers

norm

[mark]

probably a wise move. if the pintle alignment was out the bottom bearing probably wouldn't last long

definitely strikes me as a design flaw overall though. can't cost them any more to lip the bottom bearing to keep it in place

probably a bit late now but PTFE tape around the rudder shaft might have been a good little extra to stick a teflon coating in side the bearing

got lathe envy by the way, been lusting after one of those combined mini lathe/milling machines for a while now

[KeithB]

Great job Norm!

It's great when you've access to the right tools.

ps

I want one too, wouldn't know how to use it, but I want one.

[The Great Wallsendo]

a job well done mate - on another note...maybe I/We should have worn gloves with that hull cleaner...my hands ended up like Zola Budds feet and are now peeling

[Kev1n]

Another job well done, that’s a good photo essay too Norman you should submit it to one of the boating mags. It’s good when all goes to plan with any work, usually bolts are seized, bits are worn and a whole host of other problems turn up. Fingers crossed that the bearings on my boat will not go the same way, if they do though I now know who to come to for help

Will Slinky be back in the water in time for the weekend; the forecast looks pretty good?

By the way, your prop needs cleaning; you should have antifouled it at the last lift-out

[Norman]

cheers lads,
Tony ..... yeah I had a bit of a glazed over look on my hands last night as well no wonder the hull comes up good

Kev,
Aye mate all went well not too difficult a job after all, and if you ever need it I got some delrin left over
The prop , well ......... maybe it'll get a bit of a going over this weekend

norm

[The Jester]

Interesting post Norm , i used to like working on the lathes at the pit, many moons ago , so always find these sort of posts interesting. Bet when you got it all put back together and all was well, you stood back with a big smile on your face.. Job well done Norm.

[northeast1]

Good fix, boats you gota love them

Sure you will make it out at the weekend when you ee that sun blasting down and the high tide is 7amish so bang on your fav time for fishing the mark

I am out both days this weekend, target...Sat not to blank in the North, Sunday not to blank in the South