Bavaria 36 Steering Cables and Chain Rubbing in Pedestal

[BillGiles]

I have been doing an annual inspection of the steering system of my Bavaria 36 yacht. The boat is about 13 years old and this has never been inspected before! I have found that in the pedestal the cable/chain run crosses over as shown in both the Bavaria handbook and the Whitlock installation pamphlet. I am somewhat troubled because where the cross over occurs there is rubbing between the two - sometimes (when the steering is central) between the cables, and when near full lock the chain and cable coincide. There are rubber sleeves over the cable - chain joints and these are worn where they touch the other cable. There is no evidence of wear on the cables themselves but I regard it as unsatisfactory that they should touch at all. Where the cables go down through the deck to the turning blocks they pass fairly centrally through the holes in the deck. If any Bav 36 owners (especially of 2003 boats) can have a look in the little hatch on the stbd side of the pedestal and tell me what they see it would be useful.  Any other advice would also be helpful.

[Salty]

Same situation on my 36 (2002) Bill, but having said that, the chafe appears to be just in the plastic covering. Considering that my boat worked hard during its first nine years of life as a charter boat, and also that nothing was spent on it for most of that time, the extent of the chafe is not that bad. As you mentioned the chains with wires attached crossover in the lower part of the pedestal such that the chain coming down from the starboard side of the Whitlock spindle attaches to the port side of the steering quadrant and vice versa for the other chain, in order that the rudder turns in the correct same sense as the wheel. Where the wires cross, one is lead slightly forward while the other leads slightly aft thus making some attempt to minimise the the extent of the chafe. The question is am I worried about it enough to want to make changes? I have to say not really. I will keep an eye on things, but all the while there is no metal to metal contact I can live with it.

[BillGiles]

Thanks for that Salty, it is pleasing to hear that I am not alone and that (as Microsoft are wont to say) 'it is a feature' of the system. I am going to lube the cables this week and can have a further detailed look at it while my daughter (gently) turns the wheel. I'd like to check that the turning blocks are well secured but I am not entirely sure that the tension in the system is correct, although there is no chance of slipping.

[Salty]

Hi Bill,

For what it's worth, the tension on the chains/wires on mine are "very tight." I can't actually measure it, but tight enough to make a Yorkshire man wince !!

[BillGiles]

On mine I sucked my teeth and thought 'that is not very tight'. The aircraft engineer in me thinking what should the tension be? Where is my tension gauge?