Rudder Question

[bigd14]

I dropped the rudder yesterday to take care of a few cracks and dings. The boat came to me without a tiller fork. I found one for sale online, with a rudderhead. The new tiller fork doesn't fit the existing rudderhead very well (lots of play), so I am hoping to use the rudderhead/tiller fork combo I bought instead. The rudderhead is held to the rudder post with a single through bolt. The new rudderhead fits the existing rudder post fine, however, the bolt holes don't line up.

So I am wondering how to fix this, I could ream one of the holes in the rudderhead out to make it fit, but this might induce play and wear. Same with the rudder post.

I am hesitant to mess with the rudder post holes. Maybe I could overdrill the rudderhead holes and use a bushing? Or should I have someone weld the holes closed and redrill them? I guess I could oversize all holes as well in both rudderhead and rudder post and use a bigger bolt.

Oh, the post is stainless steel, and the rudderhead is cast bronze.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Doug

[Quetzalsailor]

I'd modify a cheaper piece before a more expensive piece. Thus, in this case, I think the rudderpost should remain unaltered. Explain to us how the tiller fork fits the rudderhead on your boat. Maybe there's an easy way to snug it up, special washers? Gonna' be a pain to recenter the hole, easy to say redrill and sleeve but not that easy to do w/o a good clamping method and an end mill and drill press - perfectly adequate repair.

I have found, in my dad's scrap bin, the rudderhead and straps between which to bolt a tiller for our now-sold Morgan 27. My guess is that the rudderpost on the Morgan is larger than your Ericson. Wait, I'll measure it...post is 2 3/8" od, bolt is 1/2". Aluminum castings both head and straps; dad couldn't stand it in his engineer-i-tude and made a stainless replacement.

You, or anybody else on this list, is welcome to it for the cost of the postage. I'll fire off some pics offlist, should anybody nibble.

[Hirilondë]

I'd modify a cheaper piece before a more expensive piece. Thus, in this case, I think the rudderpost should remain unaltered.

I totally agree with this. I would also try the bushing or weld idea to fill in the hole and re-drill. As to bronze attached to S/S, as they are very close on the galvanic scale I would'nt worry about that detail. And factor in that bronze is so much easier for the lay man to work with.

[bigd14]

Thanks for the advice Quetzal and Hirolonde. I think I'll tinker around with drilling out the rudderhead and using a bushing. If I screw it up I'll still have a backup. I think I can shim the original tiller head with some fine washers to fit the new tiller fork, if things go south with the new rudderhead. Or I can have someone fill the screwed up holes in and I can try to redrill it.

Doug