Rudder knocks at high speed - Bavaria 44

[elias]

Hi again !
My rudder makes a noise like it has gaps in the axis of the shaft . I m sending a video and a photo.

[Yngmar]

Looks like a worn lower bearing or bearing housing, possibly severely so, to cause that much motion at the top. The motion you see is the top bearing self-aligning with the moving shaft. Not good.

You can easily confirm by hopping in and wobbling the rudder by hand from below - a lose bearing will give you a very noticable clonk-clonk when doing that. Time to haul out and drop the rudder. Spare bearings and housings available from Jefa (jefa.dk).

[elias]

Yes I ve done that and it moves some cm . I m taking the boat out soon but i don’t think the base is high enough to remove it taking my time and has to be done while is hanging from the crane . Do you think that it needs to remove it completely to change or just enough for the shaft to be out from the bearing position ?

[Yngmar]

On my 40 Ocean we had to lift the boat as high as the travelift could go and just barely got the rudder out that way. But our boat has a very long rudder shaft that goes all the way to deck level. I don't know which Bavaria 44 you have exactly. Many, but not all of the aft cockpit ones have a much shorter shaft. But likely you'll need to lift it too. Many boatyards are opposed to digging a deep hole in the ground below the rudder, which is the other alternative.

You cannot change the bearing or the housing without removing the rudder entirely, it's got to come out. "some cm" sounds pretty serious, so I wouldn't go sail until then. Let us know what you find - changing the bearing is fairly straightforward, but if the housing is broken too, that's encased in a big lump of fibreglass and a fair bit of work to cut out and install a new one.

[elias]

Thanks a lot ! I m sailing back to base ,25 miles away  , I will make it I think ! Anyway any comments about that huge black rubber hose in the photo ?

[Yngmar]

Got the same hose too. It extends the rudder tube upwards and at the top is a huge lip seal around the shaft, which on my boat was in pretty dire condition and needed replacing (standard part, just measure size and get one with a stainless spring from a seals supplier).

The reason there is a hose and not just a long tube is because it's flexible, so the tube doesn't have to be perfectly aligned with the shaft (and it sure isn't on our boat). The alternative to the hose + lip seal is a neoprene gaiter that is fixed directly to the shaft and tube and flexible enough to simply twist and stretch as the shaft turns. See Jefa page here: https://www.jefa.com/products/sealing/sealing.htm

[elias]

Enlightening advices ! Thanks a lot , I m starting already to organize the rudder removal !

[elias]

Got the same hose too. It extends the rudder tube upwards and at the top is a huge lip seal around the shaft, which on my boat was in pretty dire condition and needed replacing (standard part, just measure size and get one with a stainless spring from a seals supplier).

The reason there is a hose and not just a long tube is because it's flexible, so the tube doesn't have to be perfectly aligned with the shaft (and it sure isn't on our boat). The alternative to the hose + lip seal is a neoprene gaiter that is fixed directly to the shaft and tube and flexible enough to simply twist and stretch as the shaft turns. See Jefa page here: https://www.jefa.com/products/sealing/sealing.htm

Do you have any idea how much clearance I need from the ground to take it out ? Bavaria 44 03-04  , spade rudder I think around 1.9 meters deep

[Yngmar]

You can measure the length of your rudder shaft from where it enters the hull upwards. That's the clearance you need. Might be Jefa has the plans for your rudder on their FTP server - they did have mine.

[elias]

Perfect , found it! Wow there was a version with long rudder around 2meters length from hull !

[sy_Anniina]

Great detailed info on rudder and bearings on jefa site - definitely worth bookmarking even for us without acute rudder problems as of today.

Also relieved to see the moderate pricing of the bearings.