Stiff Rudders

[MPBennett]

I have a Lagoon 440, 2006. I have put it on the hard for the hurricane season in the Caribbean since 2008. Last year my rudders were frozen when I arrived to splash the boat. I removed all hard ware and linkage and determined that everything works freely but the rudders. I got them to start moving and used the boat for the season but the rudders never fully freed up as I hoped they would. I think they will be in the same shape this year or worse. Boat yards I talked to about this said that with all the miles I have put on the boat the rudders are usually loose, not tight. Has anyone out there experienced rudders that slowly got stiffer. I expect I will have to drop the rudders this year and fix them, but will it involve cleaning or replacing the bearings? I would be grateful if anyone who has had any experience with this issue share their experience. Thanks in advance!

Matt Bennett
Mon Amie

[dlymn]

Some possibles are:
salt encrustation
steel rust encrustation (yes, stainless can rust in some circumstances)
calcium encrustation
crushed outer rudder bush or swollen fibreglass (water intrusion) pushing on post
fine line (fishing?) wrapped around rudder post
bent post
a thousand other things that have stuck between the post and bush.

Have you checked to see whether it's both rudders?

If you first get to the boat when it's on the hard, put your ear to the rudder when it's being moved. A crunching or scraping sound would indicate encrustation.

It shouldn't be too had to drop the rudders and check for cleanness and straightness. Someone in the yard might be able to do that before you arrive.

[Cap Erict3]

Remove ur packing.


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[2Hulls]

What kind of shaft bearings do you have? There should be two bearings on each shaft - an upper and lower. Especially on the lower (which will be wet all the time) check for corrosion between the shaft and bearing. You may have to drop each rudder to do this.

Dave

[admiralslater]

I had the same problem on my 2003 Outremer 45. Luckily the previous owner had a spare setof bushings on board so we were able to change them. It took just over a day to complete the job.
The bushings themselves had started to brake down and seem to have expanded which caused the steering to bind. I just came back from the Outremer factory and they say 5 years before changing again. I doid buy another set. You probably want to get in touch with the factory sooner rather than later. Good luck
FYI the yard used a Sawzall to cut the bushings vertically, then drove them out

[Cheechako]

If your rudder bushing are plastic, that could be your problem. Find out from Lagoon. Maybe you can upgrade to better material.

[UNCIVILIZED]

There are some materials which get used for bearings, & bushings, which swell over time. Especially when exposed to water.
It's another possibility to consider anyway.

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

If your rudder bushing are plastic, that could be your problem. Find out from Lagoon. Maybe you can upgrade to better material.

Some plastic bearings do just fine. Depends on the type of plastic. JP3 type 1 bearings use Ertalyte, which looks like garden variety white plastic, but must be immune or highly resistant to swelling since they've been used a lot without problem. But they are not immune to marine growth fouling up the clearances between the plastic and aluminum housing. This can cause resistance to turning and in time this fouling can cause the bearing to seize in the housing causing the housing to come loose from its bedding in the hull and rotate with the rudder shaft.

Dave