Rudder Shaft Length
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Does anyone have the dimensions for the stock rudder shaft? I need to pull my rudder out of the boat on the weekend. The boat is on the trailer, so it would be good to know how deep to dig the hole before I start.
DWith my setup, if I lay my trailer tongue on the ground, I end up with about three inches of clearance when the rudder is dropped. The shaft is around three feet long or so. I make a habit of removing the rudder every winter and storing the rudder in my basement…no chance of popping.
Derek…back the boat over a ditch. You will need about 3 feet. Elliptical takes more of a ditch.
37.5″ I have one leaning against my fireplace… yes, the house is an O30 museum.
Thanks Lilya!
Bruce, I’m hoping to line it up with a ditch, but the island I’m keeping it on is a bit limited for opportunities without blocking the main road. I suspect that I’m in a similar situation as Scot, and won’t have to dig far, but it’s always good to know before pulling the tiller off!
Derek
Just drop the tongue to the ground and you will have lots of clearance. good idea to have it ready to slide out before you lower the nose.
Success! I only had .5″ extra when I dropped the tongue, but it was enough.
The next question is how much wear on the rudder shaft is too much? Has anyone built up a shaft before, or do they just leave it? I work in aviation, and we would swap a worn shaft on spec, but it isn’t as if a lot of the strength is gone in this case. My biggest concern is that there will be a bit of play in the bearings when I replace them because they have to fit over the unworn part of the shaft. Any advice?
When I put my new bearings in..I had to sand the shaft to get them on. Pride Marine.
So, unless you SEE questionable wear, the new bearings should be fine to take up the space.
I bought bearings from Dave too, but my intent was to ream the bearings rather than sand the shaft. There is a significant difference between the inside diameter of the bearing, and the current shaft diameter, and I’d like to keep as much of the shaft strength as possible. I’m actually surprised by the variance in shaft diameters, I expected that they would be a lot closer to the same size.
Being able to see wear at all is hard for me to wrap my head around. We tend to scrap shafts when the damage gets into the thousandths of an inch range. These shafts are built to resist different torsional and bending loads than ours though, so the failure modes are probably different. I may still take some measurements and discuss the wear with someone who knows fiberglass rods, but I suspect that my rudder is OK.
Do this instead since you like ‘thousandths’.
Measure the inside bearing and the outside of shaft; I bet they are close or tight. Don’t ream the bearing…it is probably what you need in oversize. Use a hammer and tamp the lower bearing all the way down on the shaft before reinstalling the rudder, use some graphite. The upper is installed last. I used some blocks to hold the rudder up in the boat while installing the upper.
Think about a crankshaft that has been turned…use oversize bearings!
the shaft is strong. If it breaks..deal with it. I haven’t heard of anyone breaking one.
PS: I shouldn’t have said sanded. I did clean it up so the bearing wouldn’t get scarred. The bearing has a bit of give I’m guessing. Take your time tapping it down. The upper is easier.
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