Rudder maintenance

[realslimshady]

Had a look at the top of the rudder post yesterday and there's a tiny weep of water evident. It occurred to me that in five and a half years of ownership I have never touched the steering system.
Is there any kind of maintenance to be carried out. There doesn't seem to be a grease nipple or any kind of 'service' access...

[DesertAlbin736]

Same thing here, 9 years of ownership.

[WillieC]

Nothing to grease. There is a seal on the stem just below the tiller arm and a great thread by D. Kirsop on how to renew it.

Some of these boats have "Kissed bottom" and have made repairs to the skeg and lower rudder support. The elbow fitting at the bottom is still available from Stefan and Albinmotors if I'm not mistaken.

[dkirsop]

Here is the link to my thread on this topic
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10756

[realslimshady]

cheers guys

[akroger]

Here is the link to my thread on this topic
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10756

I really appreciated your post and pictures on how you replaced the upper seal and busing components on your Albin 25. It was extremely helpful. I have same boat (1977) and steering setup and am having the boat pulled out of water in a few days to bottom paint/change zincs and would like to do maintenance on my rudder. I live in Juneau Alaska and I can't seem to find a source for the seal, washer, and bushings. Anything suggestions you or anyone else can provide would be very helpful. In your post you did provide the size of O-ring but only pictures for the other components.
Again, I appreciate any help or suggestions!
Thanks.
Roger

[dkirsop]

The upper bushing on my rudder stock was in good condition so I did not replace it. At that time Albin Motor had upper replacement bushings available but I cannot find one on their site at this time. They do have the lower bushing available:
https://albinmotor.se/en/complete-price ... -down.html

This may be a stocking issue so check with them to see if they are likely to bring in new stock before giving up.

The good news is you can remove the o-ring without having to remove the steel ring. I later helped a friend replace his o-ring using a hat pin and bending the tip of the pin at 90 degrees. This allowed us to hook the o-ring and draw it out. It was easy to grease and insert the new o-ring by pushing it down with my finger. The whole operation, apart from dropping the rudder, took 5 minutes. You will have to remove the upper bushing to do this but it came out quite easily in both situations.

The o-ring dimensions are critical. Until I tracked down a metric 0-ring of the correct size it was not possible to fit the shaft.

To fabricate a teflon bearing washer I used 1/16" thick sheet teflon. I held the teflon to a scrap piece of wood using double sided carpet tape. Holding the assembly in my bench vice, I first used a hole saw to drill out the shaft hole and then a larger hole saw to cut the outer diameter of the bearing. You need to use light pressure to avoid tearing the bearing from the tape.

[WillieC]

While you’re fooling around with the rudder, don’t forget to check the steering knuckle. If it’s off white plastic, replace it. That thread is here somewhere also.