Rudder Issue

[Joncat]

Help!
Has anyone had any experience with the rudder dropping out of the upper support bracket. It appears my rudder has slipped down approx. 1.5" inches. Does the shoe that holds the bottom of the rudder post have a replaceable bushing? This came to light when the hydraulic steering cylinder started leaking, upon further inspection, the rudder has dropped out of the top aluminum crossmember and the stuffing box is now leaking.
Any help would be appreciated!!
John Mac
"Joncat"
Old Saybrook, CT.

[JackK]

It appears from looking at a photo that the bottom shoe is bolted to the support member. Doesn't look like a bushing from the photo.



On the cylinder, if you are replacing it, go up one size from the Albin supplied one. In talking with Standish Boat they said the original was really undersized for the 28. Mine failed at a miserable point just as I entered a very narrow fairway at the marina. Bow thruster to the rescue for steering into the slip. No one at the dock even noticed that I didn't have any rudder controls.

Hope this helps. Any questions fire me or RobS an message. Rob's failed within weeks of mine.

Jack

[Pitou]

Strange that you say the rudder dropped an inch plus ... possibly never seated properly into the shoe at the end of the skeg. I'll share my recent experience.

Yes, there is a cutlass bearing in the shoe which snuggly receives the rudder post. I just went through a complete removal of the shoe and rudder over this past lay-up and rebuilt for a snug dripless re-install. The bottom of the rudder post not only fits snuggly into the shoe it bottoms out when fully seated preventing it from dropping. The other pice of this puzzle is the packing nut which is seen topside in the bilge. Beneath the packing nut is the lock nut preventing the packing nut from loosening. After loosening the lock nut I removed the packing nut from the post and repacked with packing material.

Before getting started .... like anything in a boat .... the hydrallic arm and anything attached to the rudder must be removed. Once clear the first thing I did was remove the shoe (4 bolts) / the rudder may drop / be ready. Not having enough room for a wrench in the bilge I used a medium ball peen hammer to "tap" the lock nut loose from the packing nut. The lock nut spins down to the bilge to loosen. I then tapped the packing nut until loose then it just spun off by hand. The packing nut spins left / up to loosen and remove. I then took the shoe to my local prop shop / H & H Prop in Salem where they removed the old cutlass bearing and pressed in a new one. I also brought the packing nut for them to size the packing material. Scary thing was Albin had only put two wraps of packing material in the nut / bare minimum or less in my book. There is plenty of room in that nut for multiple wraps. I staggered the joints for 5 wraps which is what I got out of the packaging purchased. After re-installing .... Dry ... not a drop coming out of the post/packing nut and the rudder feels so much firmer (in a good way) than ever before.

I have now been through the paces : shaft seal replaced with PSS Shaft Seal, stern tube cutlass bearing replaced, and now the rudder running gear is new.

If you're not comfortable doing this work get a professional mechanic or someone of competance to assist and guide you. I've been lucky, my winter lay-up marina does not provide service, but the owner is a cracker jack and lets me borrow tools and guided me through on this apprehensive mission. Total labor hours for this rookie 1 1/2 hours to take apart and 2 hours to put back together after dropping off and picking up the shoe.

[Joncat]

Thanks Guys! I'll keep you posted.
John Mac
JONCAT

[RobS]

...the rudder has dropped out of the top aluminum crossmember ...

Only an inch and half and it fell below the AL crossmember? Was there this much rudder post above the crossmember to start? How would the rudder slip down that much with the rudder arm in place?

DSCN8664c.JPG

I did my rudder shoe bearing 2 seasons ago. I had a line tied under the rudder that was tied off to hold the rudder put. I had to buy a proper diameter bearing too long for the application and cut it to length and then press it into shoe. Don't recall if the bearing really needed replacing but I already had the shoe in hand as I needed to pull the rudder off center to slide out the prop shaft for some other work I was doing at the time.

Here is an old thread regarding the steering cylinder

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3242&hilit=steering

[Joncat]

Rob and Jack,
Thanks for the pics, Joncat is back in the water repaired the pictures and description helped. It looks like Albin changed the design and hardware a bit over the years, my boat is a 1994, hull # 171. Hale propellor in Old Saybrook CT. made the cutlass bearing out of a piece of shaft material and pressed it into the bottom shoe. Thanks Again!
John Mac
"Joncat"

[RobS]

...my boat is a 1994, hull # 171.
"Joncat"

You're quite welcome. Glad you're back in the water. 1994, Hull 171.. Are you sure it's not hull 71? Albin started at 100, the first hull was #101. So if digits 6, 7 and 8 are 171 then you have #71. I'm a late 2000 model and hull # 408, so 171 sounds high for a 1994.

[Joncat]

Rob,
I think your right, 171 sounded high to me also. To be honest 71 sounds high, did production of the 28 start in 93?
Thanks again,
John Mac
"Joncat"
Old Saybrook, CT.

[RobS]

Rob,
I think your right, 171 sounded high to me also. To be honest 71 sounds high, did production of the 28 start in 93?
Thanks again,
John Mac
"Joncat"
Old Saybrook, CT.

Yes, '93, as far as I know.

I have exchanged PM's with AOG member OldDemps, he has hull number 404, I have 408. His hull was laid Dec99, mine was May00, so number 71 in the second year of production does seem high based on that. But then you figure 400 hulls in about 6 years gives you about 60 to 70 per year, so there you go.