steering failure

[frank e wille]

leaving marina could barely steer one way back to slot1/2 arc almost nothing the other almost fully intact. Angled back to slip.eventually pulled boat mainly due to sound of prop hitting apeture. Out of water,marks on rudder, also notice on one side of skeg a small block of fbg which stops rudder fromover turning, other side has none , prop hits on this side in past. Remove cap & find NO key andhead not lined up key way to keyway.This I can fix.....But have gears or clutch been damaged...Last few minutes preceding failure hitting sound was more like metal on metat!!!!???? Will have westerbeke deisel man look at it! Comments on this and rudder shaft replacement very welcome!

[Mike Goodwin]

Is your prop shaft loose ? Grab it and shake it in all directions , if it moves , you need new cutlass bearings and maybe a coupling .

[Bill]

See page 45 in the manual for a description of rudder shaft replacement.

[S.Airing]

Capt. Frank,After reading your post Im still not sure what your asking,your as confusing as ebb.Ive pulled my engine and replaced the shaft,cutlass bearing , seal and prop .No big deal.If youve torn up some gears in the trans. you got to yank the engine(most likely)but these engines are tough.Im told the cluches last forever and when I rebuilt my engine I didnt replace them.Just adjust it if it slips.You could have a broken coupling or a loose one or even your engine has come loose and has moved.Whens the last time you tightened everything up?Its hard to trouble shoot from here.