Steering slack

[mastreb]

Could raise one rudder and turn it to steer the other in an emergency if the motor was disconnected.

[mikew]

Hi all and thanks for the really useful ideas.
Last time up at the boat I had a good look at the system and found that the cable moves freely and there is very little slack at all in that part of the system. There is still however almost a quarter turn of the wheel before you can feel any "friction" or bite and at that point she starts to turn. I did notice at one point that the stern mooring line was catching on the port rudder and pulling quite hard against it. A quick inspection revealed a lot of slack between that rudder and it's mounting bracket. I'd run out of time by then but it did look relatively simple to tighten the bracket back up to remove the slack and that may well cure the problem. I'll let you know but it might be a couple of weeks.
Innervations, I get over to Perth quite often with my job. Do you berth at Hilary's or keep her o a trailer?
Mike

[1st Sail]

My wheel has the same annoying slack. The slack in the linkage is minimal. The real problem is the rack and pinion. I totally dismantled the R&P and found there is virtually no way to adjust the rack to pinion gear lash. The pinion gear is on the end of the steering shaft and sits in a cast housing. The rack gear is mounted in a stamped sheet metal housing. The pinion gear casting cannot be machined in order to alter the clearance between the two gears and thus reduce the lash.
Truth is a slightly larger diameter gear with the same gear teeth specs would solve the problem. I purchased a new Uflex planetary gear system to replace my perfectly good but sloppy Teleflex rack and pinion. I don’t recall how the pinion gear is attached to the steering shaft or whether it could be replaced. Definitely would save a lot of hassle.

[innervations]

I had a lot of slack in the rudder brackets which was really easy to fix. Mike, my MacM is on a trailer at Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club.

[mikew]

Update. I had a quick look at the rudders yesterday
The starboard rudde has some slack iota bracket but not much, moving 5 to 10 degrees and should be easy to tighten up.
The port rudder is a different thing altogether. It has about 15 degrees of movement in the bracket, again simple to remove, but the the bracket itself moves another 20 plus degrees. I haven't had a chance yet to look at the rudder linkage and see how it works but has anyone else seen this problem?
Mike
Innervations - not familiar with that sailing club but what a great sailing ground you have