Rudder removal

[Bob Muggleston]

Hey everyone, I've got to remove the rudder on my Pearson Commander. I've just spent a bit of time using the search tool on this forum and can't find anything. It looks like, to me, the rudder shoe has to come off. Surely someone has posted instructions on Ariel/Commander rudder removal? Many thanks in advance . . .
-Bob

[ebb]

Have to remove tiller head.
1) Remove tiller at hinge bolt.

Put the bolt, wasshers and nut back on the tiller head - or the
tiller - in the order you removed them. ...For reference.

Examine the bronze tiller shaft head where it's sitting.
There should be a short bronze 5/16" hexhead cap screw*
screwed into the back of the fitting. It should have no nut.

2) Try to back this small bolt out a couple turns, add penetrating
oil. If it doesn't move, don't force it, it is bronze and could break.
If it won't budge, just leave it for now.

Look in front of the tiller head fitting under the hinge bolt. You
are looking at the collar (let's call it) that is about 1 7/16" deep,
and sits directly on top of the rudder shaft. The 1" rudder-shaft
has an 1/8" deep 1/4" wide keyway milled lengthwise into the top
few inches for a 1/4" x 1/4" x 1 1/4" long square rod (key).
And inside the collar is cast a matching 1/8" deep flat groove for
its half of the key.
The back half of the collar you can see is in the form of a split
flange where the hexhead cap screw dwells. That small bolt
seems like it was intended to squeeze the collar tighter to keep the
key on the opposite side from slipping down! It's probably been
slipping for 50 years. Salt, age, ignorance, wear haven't been
kind to this function.
(Personally think the idea is half fast and never worked at all!)

UPGRADES TO TILLERHEAD BY FORMER OWNERS
So, what some clever owners have done (to make sure the key
stays in it's groove and the shared groove milled in the top of the
rudder shaft, because without this key we cannot steer the boat)...
is to add one or two set screws in the collar where the groove is
on the inside center of the fitting. Look for these or any set screws.
Your tiller head collar may be blank. Or have former owner added
set screws directly into the shaft, thru the sides.**

SAE socket set-screws are driven with hex Allen wrenches of small
diameter, depending on the size of the screw. Look for the array
that's individually packaged in a plastic sleeve, for ease of use.

3) Back out any set screws you see anywhere in the collar.
They should be where described, in a straight line one above the
other, in a line center of the collar between the tiller hinge knuckles.
But could be anywhere...

4) Tiller head should lift off. Knock it up with a plastic hammer,
if it needs help. Watch for the key. And any metallic shim material.
Examine the key way on shaft and head fitting.

5) Next is the trim cup that fits over the rudder tube. It also has
a few set screws to keep it in place, but these little screws go into
a fiberglass material. And on my Ariel had grooved into a funky
mess almost around the entire tube...

6) Inside the cup is the all important rudder shaft sleeve bearing
which inserts into the tube and rides on the rim of the rudder tube
under trim cap. It has two replaceable O-rings that seal the shaft
from water intrusion into cockpit. And tames the six foot long shaft/
rudder blade from shock & wiggle movement. As we now know the
shaft entering the bustle underneath has no sleeve bearing
-- necessary to allow removal of rudder & shaft. O-rings are obvious,
one inside, one outside. If they are flattened they need replacing.
Best to replace sleeve bearing if old.
New sleeve & rings can be gotten from pearsonariel.org, at cost.

Shaft and rudder assembly weight is held up entirely by the rudder
shoe fitting. It may have some problems too. Examine it!!
see RUDDER SHOE DISSCUSSIONS, tech forum here.

7) Under the boat on the vertical keel (keelstock), look for a short
copper strap about halfway up - but under the prop opening.

Remove any bottom paint so you can examine the fastenings.
They probably are small machine screws with nuts all on one side
of the boat. Back out the nuts. Lift the strap off the bolts and bend
that one side away from the hull a couple inches.
This strap must be replaced if you remove it! Imco, electrician's
copper grounding strap is a good replacement, soft.
If replacing fasteners, use only bronze. www.tnfasteners.com/


8) Dig a hole under the rudder 30" deep.


There is just enough space inside the rudder tube to bring rudder
shaft over enough to slip by the rudder shoe. Without removing
the shoe!! This is how it's done. The rudder shaft has to be
completely naked on top.

9) Remember to lift the rudder assembly up 3/4" and
then sideways to get it by the ruddershoe. Easy but heavy to lift.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Cap screw is threaded into one side of the split collar. It therefor
cannot be punched out. Have to UNscrew it, which may not
happen. Would wait until you can get it into a padded bench vice
-- where you can see if it actually can be done. Got mine working,
cleaned out the seam, but could see the bolt is no way stout enough
to actually squeeze the crack closed. Don't want to deform or break
anything threaded, so just left it, until the very last thing.
Besides, if I squeeze the ears shut, how am I going to open them
later when I'm taking it apart again? Yeah, whack a wood chisel
into the crack to pry it open. Won't happen. Don't squeeze it shut!

With the 'bottom' up, looking into the collar - and the split - and the
cap screw, notice one side of the split is smaller than the other. The
thinner side is not threaded. The 1" long screw inserts here and
threads into the fat side. If you have a HSS tap&die set, turn the
5/16-18 tap thru the flange from the unthreaded side to clear and
reshape threads. Or turn a new hexhead 5/16-18 ss bolt thru collar.


KEYWAY SETSCREWS
Best solution is to introduce set screws thru the collar on top of the
key in the keyway inside, (and it faces the cockpit, so it's easy to
access the set screws. Next time hope to remember they are there.
Suggest 316 10-32 conepoint setscrews and add chamfers
in the key itself to insure the key cannot escape. Make an extra.)
Because we cannot really squeeze the tillerhead collar to stop
wobble we may have to insert some bronze or soft copper shim
material into the collar. McMasterCarr. (set screws also)
Spend time making sure this prime connection sits square and tight.
Imagine the extraordinary weight of this bronze tiller head & tiller
cantilevered off the very top of the shaft -- the constant yanking on
the tiller -- the whole displacement of the boat pushed around by
the blade -- and all concentrated on this one spot. Lubricate holes
and threads with Tefgel or Lanocote. Don't use aluminum can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COLLAR to SHAFT SETSCREWS
** This may be too far ahead of the game here. It is possible a
freak accident (never heard of it happening) could lift and drop the
whole tiller and tiller head off the rudder shaft. Horrors! But that is
what we have here, even with two piddly set screws in the keyway,
nothing except weight is holding steering system onto the shaft.
Therefore, given that grounding, treetrunk, or whale could dislodge
the rudder, imco it is a good idea to
add 2 set-screws to either side of the collar
-- directly engage the shaft -- for a hint of mechanical advantage.
These side sets should never be used without a key in the keyway!
1/4"-28. 18-8 Extended point setscrews. McMasterCarr. Discussion??

When reassembling: Consider the twisting loads on the tillerhead.
Lanocote or Tefgel the threads of the cap screw and attempt ro
* REtighten the cap screw -- JUST SNUG.
This will help insure the split head is stabilized on the shaft.

You can see that without the mechanical insurance of a couple
more setscrews, and after a few seasons of no longer focusing on
rudder stuff, that something in the cockpit can lever the tiller head
off the rudder shaft. Or just bracing yourself with tiller in hand while
the boat lurches, the whole kit comes off. Have a hell of a time
retrieving the key and managing to put the tiller head back as it
came off. Not possible.
You'll need some alternative steering. {There is an ap for that}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven't done this setcrew thing before, don't want to scare
you off. It's relatively straight forward, but requires some special
tools. (HSS taps & dies, some lettered and numbered cobalt bits.)
The keyway gambit can be done at a local machine shop.
The larger set screws in sides of the collar have to be done in place
with partial disassembly (in the cockpit) when tillerhead collar and
shaft are mounted back in their final working position.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
see Technical Forum thread: 'Play in Tiller' . For photos and ideas.

Hope this covers it. Good luck!
This represents some of my experience with A338's rudder system.
Imco, nothing official, just one boat owner to another. OBOTA

My memory never was what it used to be. Yogi Borre

[Bob Muggleston]

Yikes, just what I imagined . . . thanks for the great instructions!
-Bob

[roythomas]

If you need help Bob I would be glad to provide a second set of hands. I saw your boat a couple days ago parked near mine!