Rudder Post bearing

[Alan Duncan]

At the point where my rudder post emerges from the deck, there is a flat bearing which used to contain ball bearings. The races have now completely broken up and all the bearing have dropped out, meaning that the swan neck now flaps around loosely. On most boats these bearings appear to be bolted in with 4 bolts, mine however has only 2 bolts.

 

Can anyone give me a steer (sorry!) as to where I might find a replacement bearing in the Nottingham area? (Failing that, anywhere!). And does anyone know what the proper name is for these little beauties?

 

All advice gratefully received.

 

Alan

[Keeping Up]

At the point where my rudder post emerges from the deck, there is a flat bearing which used to contain ball bearings. The races have now completely broken up and all the bearing have dropped out, meaning that the swan neck now flaps around loosely. On most boats these bearings appear to be bolted in with 4 bolts, mine however has only 2 bolts.

 

Can anyone give me a steer (sorry!) as to where I might find a replacement bearing in the Nottingham area? (Failing that, anywhere!). And does anyone know what the proper name is for these little beauties?

 

All advice gratefully received.

 

Alan

Don't know where to get the replacement from, but I've seen a number of boats with an effective temporary repair made by using a few inches of reinforced plastic hose of about the same diameter as the rudder stock, split down one side so it can be fed over the stock and pushed down inside the old bearing so that the plastic is now in place of the balls, then held in place with a jubilee clip.

[Speedwell]

I would suggest that you don't replace the ball bearing at all, unless you can get a stainless steel one of the right size, but get a local machinist to make a nylon bush the same size as the ball bearing but a slightly loose fit. If you want to improve on this you can try combinations of nylon and stainless steel bushes to keep a smooth running face. I used this sort of arrangement as a bearing on the base of my rudder shaft to compensate for corrosion and wear and it lasted for years without trouble until the boat was sold.

If you want to use a ball bearing, they come from bearing factors. I have used Swan Bearings in Preston for a fancy thrust race that I thought would be very difficult to replace. If there is enough bearing left you will need the ident code stamped on it, otherwise you will need accurate measurements. Bearing factors in your area should be listed in Yellow Pages or on Yell.co.uk.

I've just looked on Yell and there are loads of them in Nottingham

Arthur

[DHutch]

You should be able to remove the bearing from the holder (with the two holes)

- I would then take the two parts (the inner and outer rings) and try and find a suitable replacement, eather a decent marina, or garage, or somthing.

 

 

Daniel

[John Orentas]

Buying a new bearing is the easy bit, as Speedy says just measure the old one carefully, the housings should be OK but if the existing one does not have a greaser you may be as well getting a new housing that have, again measure it up carefully, try to get the type of bearings that have rubber seals.

 

The local Yellow Pages will have listings under Bearing Suppliers or Engineers Merchants. "Bearing Services" or BSL is a nationwide outfit Remember the bits may be imperial or metric dimensions.

 

The tricky bit is fitting your new assembly and that depends on the boat, but it will usually entail docking the boat.