steering linkage pop quiz

[c130king]

I can add that going into the slip is no problem but coming back out, it will add some confusion! My daughter was backing the boat as said the helm was not responding. I thought possible the steering link had broken but I had for gotten to link the motor to the rudders.

Been there...done that...got the t-shirt...and the red-face from embarassment... In my case the rudders were also up after just coming off the trailer. Turned that wheel all the way and nothing happened....DOHHHH!

I have the factory nut and bolt system. It's not really the hassle that it gets described as and it's simple and I cannot imagine how it could fail. I have extra screws and nuts in case I drop one. Setup/Breakdown less than a minute. I changed the nut and bolt for a cotter key and it works perfectly.

This is what I have currently (but wing-nut and spare wing-nuts versus cotter key). Easy to do...but...I definitely get some interference between the linkages connected to the motor the steering arm that comes out of the port side of the engine well. When I turn fully to port and that arm is fully extended it will hit/catch on the linkages that connect the motor to the lock-down bolt and sometimes it will keep me from getting full port turn or the bolt in that steering arm will actually get caught in the linkage and I can't turn the wheel back to starboard. When this happens I just lower the motor a little which will twist those linkages enough to free up the steering arm.

I am switching to the BWY system to see if I can avoid encountering this situation in the future. I will try to take some pics of this when I am out on my 2-night solo adventure this weekend.

Cheers,
Jim

[raycarlson]

No that was one of my first projects was to align rudders to each other,and to engine and increase engine steering arc, its amazing macg would send a boat out with such misaligned systems. motor is 08 50tldi nissan 3.5 inch case with stainless stilleto 12X9 prop and again speed does not change more than 1-2 tenths of a knot with motor down fully,boat speed 4-5 knot range. wanna guess again ???

[mk1]

No that was one of my first projects was to align rudders to each other,...

I have been thinking about the same. The problem is that there is no way to adjust them short of bending the linkage. It is a 1" or even 1.25" pipe and not easy to bend.

Also, my starboard rudder is loose in its bracket. Can you bend these brackets to close the gap? What do you do, just hit them with a hammer? Seems a difficult thing to do.

Has anyone any good method on how to align the rudders and set the rudder bracket gap right?

On the subject of linkage, which is the subject of this thread, I use BWY quick disconnect linkage and I am very happy with it. Most of the time when coming out and in my usual ramp I do not even bother re-connecting the motor, with rudders down the boat is easy enough to steer. If I go to some place crowded or when it is windy I would connect the motor to get more response.

My original linkage was also bent slightly but not the thread.

[Retcoastie]

Has anyone any good method on how to align the rudders and set the rudder bracket gap right?

No idea on how to align but the gap is workable. I saw that the rudders were rubbing on the brackets and scarring the gelcoat. Plus they would "clunk" at night. I took a couple plastic quart oil jugs (white of course) and cut them up so as to fit like a liner inside the bracket. They pad the rudders and have stopped the gelcoat damage. By tightening the thru pivot bolt I can reduce all the slop. But, then they don't go up and down very easy. You just have to find a happy medium.

Ken

[jschrade]

No that was one of my first projects was to align rudders to each other,and to engine and increase engine steering arc, its amazing macg would send a boat out with such misaligned systems. motor is 08 50tldi nissan 3.5 inch case with stainless stilleto 12X9 prop and again speed does not change more than 1-2 tenths of a knot with motor down fully,boat speed 4-5 knot range. wanna guess again ???

Ray,

It sounds like you might have a blue hull!


JIm

[Crikey]

To align my rudders fairly accurately I first tightened the pivot bolts to remove any play (more than you would when operating), then pointed them straight back from the stern (90deg from vertical). I tried various measurements of lengths and angles from the hull to do this but ended up standing on the cabin and doing a visual aft observation of the blades. Take a tape measure and compare the lengths from a common point on each bracket - in my M's case, a pivot bolt head - diagonally across to the same point on the tip of the opposite rudder.
Of course at this point you must have thread adjustable linkages connecting the rudder pitman arms to make each measurement equal to the other. Check for same number of turns, with the helm, to lock on each side (it's not too important for this to be exact as you will never really turn this hard while operating the boat - rudders would be stalled) and slightly reposition the main push pull link to even out port and starboard.
To set the motor parallel with the aligned rudders, match the measurement from the steering attachment bolt hole (front) to each rudder bracket side (X) or back again to the rudder tips (M - harder to do, depending on your motor!). Being off a couple of degrees with the motor to rudder alignment is not going to be very detrimental as the speed for both is limited to 6kts anyway.

Ross

[Highlander]

My rudders have a very slight tow-in .

J

[c130king]

Also, my starboard rudder is loose in its bracket. Can you bend these brackets to close the gap? What do you do, just hit them with a hammer? Seems a difficult thing to do.

Has anyone any good method on how to align the rudders and set the rudder bracket gap right?

Try inserting an old CD in that gap...or one on each side if you can squeeze it in. There are other threads about this issue which is where I learned about it. Seems to work pretty good for me. I have one CD on the outboard side of each rudder in that gap.

Don't think it fixes the alignment but it seems to tighten up the gap and reduce the rudder slop.

Cheers,
Jim

[1st Sail]

Jim,
Let me know how your BWY install goes. Mine is in and works very well. My only issue is the turn radius to starboard is not full rudders to stop vs. turn to port. On the BWY arm the ball contacts the port side of the well wall before the rudders are hard over to the stop position when turning to starboard. I installed my steering arm first.
Centered the rudders.
Connected the quick release bar to the motor.
Adjusted the QR bar length so motor is centered and rudders are centered when motor is connected to the steering bar.
I released the QR bar from the steering arm then mounted the Cbar (in the existing hole) and rotated the C bar until the motor remained centered when connected to the C bar.
Bolted the C bar to the well.
It appears the steering bar should be longer so you can turn starboard to the stops before the ball hits the well wall.

I didn't notice this until I went to dock in a cross wind and cross current and could not approach under power at my usual 45' angle and then flare off. Turing to starboard was not the normal radius I had before or at least it did not seem the same.

I plan to remeasure everything. In all fairness to BWY I have not had time to call and pose the question. They are great to work with. If you have a moment let me know what you find.

Dave

[c130king]

Jim,
Let me know how your BWY install goes. Mine is in and works very well. My only issue is the turn radius to starboard is not full rudders to stop vs. turn to port. On the BWY arm the ball contacts the port side of the well wall before the rudders are hard over to the stop position when turning to starboard. I installed my steering arm first.
Centered the rudders.
Connected the quick release bar to the motor.
Adjusted the QR bar length so motor is centered and rudders are centered when motor is connected to the steering bar.
I released the QR bar from the steering arm then mounted the Cbar (in the existing hole) and rotated the C bar until the motor remained centered when connected to the C bar.
Bolted the C bar to the well.
It appears the steering bar should be longer so you can turn starboard to the stops before the ball hits the well wall.

I didn't notice this until I went to dock in a cross wind and cross current and could not approach under power at my usual 45' angle and then flare off. Turing to starboard was not the normal radius I had before or at least it did not seem the same.

I plan to remeasure everything. In all fairness to BWY I have not had time to call and pose the question. They are great to work with. If you have a moment let me know what you find.

Dave

Dave,

Will do. I will look for that issue when I install. It will be a few more weeks before I get the boat back to my house.

Cheers,
Jim

[MikeFloutier]

I know this is an old thread but I'm just in the process of aligning my rudders and OBM on my M2009.

Not wanting to go the welding route and installing a turnbuckle I simply drilled extra holes in the ends of the long heavy duty SS rod that connects the rudder "tiller" arms.

I was concerned that this gross form of adjustment would not be helpful but, of course, the adjustment is shared evenly between the rudders (although not the motor) so the change was barely discernible.

Anyway, even by shortening it's effective length by nearly and inch, some additional adjustment in the same direction is still needed. This is easy as I made the gap between the holes at the other a little larger for this very reason.

This all probably means that my mis-alignment was pretty awful. Truth is that the rudders are fairly narrow so a 10 deg misalignment doesn't look too bad with them in the down position.

Now I just have to align the motor with the rudders. I plan to do this in a similar way. I have the stock system so I'll just add an extra hole at the relevant joint to shorten the the "tiller" arm > OBM linkage. Then, if I've over-shortened, I'll adjust it by adding some washers to the two that are there already (to lubricate the joint that facilitates the raising and lowering of the motor).