rudder bearing housing

[cleopatra]

Can anyone assist with acquiring information on a replacement 'lower rudder bearing housing' for my Bavaria 42 (model2000).

5 years ago i replaced the upper and lower rudder bearings and in hull water seal, purchased from Bavaria. All fitted successfully. A few months ago I noticed a 100mm open vertical split on the inner fibregalss bonding of the 'lower aluminium bearing housing'. This is not a stress crack due to rudder grounding. I suspect it is due to the aluminium having expanded due to corrosion, this splitting the fibreglass.

I have contacted the UK dealer 'Clipper Marine' who have said the original aluminium housings are no longer available. Their solution is to buy a new plastic housing. simple you might say, however the new plastic housing only fits 125mm roller bearings. The original spherical non roller bearing is 135mm. This means I need to purchase yet another new bearing, having recently (relatively speaking) replaced it. In addition I suspect the flange,  sleeve, rubber boot and water seal will need replacing too, as my existing ones maybe too large diameter to fit the new smaller bearing housing. On top of that fitting a smaller housing into a larger hole in the bottom of the hull is a major engineering job. Instead of just bonding in the correct replacement which would fit exactly into the old hole.

I do not want to go down the road of replacing all the lower parts and spend a fortune making the smaller housing fit.

I just want a replacement of my exisitng housing.

Does anyone have experience of the same problem and how did you resolve it. (without

HELP!!


many thanks

[tomgaeb]

Try jefa.com's website and/or call them. Very helpful folks.
They also carry spare parts for the older seaway rudder parts that Bavaria used before switching all their rudder gear to Jefa.
Even if they don't have the part they will probably make one at no major extra cost.

[cleopatra]

Appreciate your response. I have sent Jefa an email. Many thanks

[Yngmar]

Jefa makes them. I carry one (plastic) for our boat for when the time comes, but just inspected the bearing housing upon haulout and it looks like my patch job from two years ago is doing fine so far.

If you do end up replacing it, please document the process - very interested as will have to do this eventually.

[Moodymike]

Can you describe your patch job?

[Yngmar]

Can you describe your patch job?

Mine had a few deep pits, apparently caused by a poor blending of the alloy upon casting (which has a JP3 stamp on it - go figure). I cleaned them up and filled with International Watertite, then painted and antifouled (Velox plus). No further corrosion after two years and no problems after nearly 2000 miles.

[Moodymike]

Thanks for that.  I am trying to picture what your plastic housing looks like. Do you know where I can obtain an exploded diagram of the bottom assembly?

[Yngmar]

The new bearing housing is conical, with a locking ring on top. Just had a look at Jefa's site and they now have a nice page with installation instructions (could've used that two years ago): http://www.jefa.com/products/bearings/5bt000.htm

A total nightmare job as you can see, because the original housing is glassed in and will have to be cut out (and the area is really thickly laid up there), and then some serious fibreglassing work to build a mount for the new bearing housing. You can see why I decided on the patch job even though I already had the part ordered :-)

I did get the new roller bearing (and housing) from Jefa directly instead of Bavaria, so it already is the matching size. The downside were other issues, such as my rudder post not being the 64mm from the plans, but rather annoyingly 63mm for whatever crazy reason. A local stainless fabricator came to my aid and turned a thin stainless sleeve for the rudder post.

[Moodymike]

Thanks for the info Yngmar

[buttonfreebie]

If you look on the JP3 website you will see that replacement housings are available. Their dealer is www.international-boat-spares.com. Don’t bother emailing jp3 they will not reply !!  IBS are prompt and good . However I would buy the actual bearing from Jefa