DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

My 920 has developed quite a lot of play in the rudder. I thought it was the bolt holding the blade in place that was loose, but it appears to be at the bottom of the rudder shaft. The boat is still in the water & I was hoping to not lift it this winter. Anybody had this problem & if so what solution ?

Chris R wrote:My 920 has developed quite a lot of play in the rudder. I thought it was the bolt holding the blade in place that was loose, but it appears to be at the bottom of the rudder shaft. The boat is still in the water & I was hoping to not lift it this winter. Anybody had this problem & if so what solution ?

As I remember there is a stainless steel bottom plate to secure the bottom of the rudder shaft. Is that in place and secure?

The plate is certainly there & I think seculy attatched to the hull. I could only inspect it by leaning over the back of the boat & there is quite a lot of growth on the bottom of the rudder plate. I think the play is where the rudder shaft enters the plate. Next weekend I'll probably take the blade off & scrape the housing off from a dingy to get a better look

Another thing you should check is the rudder attachment to the tiller. There is a notch in the rudder post and the screw in the tiller attachment fills that notch. If that screw is missing or loose you will get "play" in the tiller.

See my post 18th August re; bottom rudder strap/bracket. If you also have a water leak in the stern, play could be this.

Hi

I have just had my 920 out to antifoul, it has had a lot of play in the rudder since i bought her a year ago, the lower support bracket pin and the hole in the rudder fitting were both perfectly round, which they would not be if worn, i suspect that there was a bush fitted by the factory which had gone missing some time when the rudder has been lifted off ??

My simple solution was to have a bush made up to drop over the lower support plate pin, not play now.

roger

Hi Roger, Took the rudder blade off today & inspected everything properly. The bottom bearing is just as you described on your boat - looks like a missing bush. With the boat in the water it is quite difficult to accuratly measure up. I don't suppose you haev the measurements of the bush you had made up. Also what material it was made from.

Many thanks

Chris

Chris;- Bought mine from Quornings;- easier?

Thanks Mal - I had emailed Quorning at the same I put the post on the forum - but received no reply. I'll chase again as this will be most straight forward solution

Hi Chris

Pleased I could help. my engineers made a bronze bush in an hour, the lower rudder plate has captive nuts so with any luck you can just remove the lower braket and take it and rudder fitting to an engineer or as has been said try quornings
I wonder how many Df,s are sailing with this problem????