Bristol 35.5 Rudder Removal

[shamrock]

Hello,

Is anyone familiar with the best rudder removal process for a Bristol 35.5 or any of the decimal series Bristols and can you share?

I have the keel version 35.5, so the boat should be high enough without raising.

I have some weeping issues.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Exile]

Unfortunately I cannot help but would also love to get some intel. I have a Bristol 47.7 and have also had some leakage around the rudder stuffing box, but only under power when the transom squats a bit. I tightened the nuts on top of the box a bit but haven't had a chance to see if that helped. The next step would be to replace the flax at the next haul-out, a job which looks like it requires removal of the quadrant to gain access. FWIW, mine is an Edson unit and I thought I'd contact them re: sourcing a new steering cable/chain while I was at it. I'll post any useful info.

Any other Bristol owners or knowledgeable folks out there?

[S/V_Surya]

If you have a picture it might help. I have removed my rudder a few times. Disconnected quadrant and hydraulic arm for auto pilot. Then put my hydraulic jack under rudder shaft and lowered. My rudder must weight a few hundred pounds but was able to man handle by myself.

[donradcliffe]

I think the Bristol 35.5 rudder is skeg mounted and has a bronze rudder shoe at the bottom which must be removed. Don't know whether the shoe is bolted or pinned through the rudder, but if you can't tell you can start by sanding or lightly grinding off the paint.

[Exile]

Thanks for the info -- very helpful. No pics at this time since I live far from the boat. I talked to Edson re: replacing the steering chain/cable but they couldn't offer any help on how the rudder is mounted or could be removed.

Does anyone know if the rudder stock itself is bronze?

[shamrock]

Hello,

I was able to chip away the fairing from the bronze gudgeon.

It appears there are some sort of pin (4 of them) through the bronze. one side appears to have a slot.

Any ideas on how to actually remove the gudgeon?

I have also attempted to attach pictures, one of each side of the gudgeon.
Thanks!

[shamrock]

for some reason the pictures rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise

[donradcliffe]

It looks like the pins go all the way through. If so, I doubt whether they are screwed in--it looks like you need to drive them out by hitting them on the end which is not slotted.

Its hard to tell what the your assembly looks like from the closeups, but I am pretty sure that what you call the gudgeon is a bronze casting which slides over built up fiberglass. Check it first, but I think that when you drive the pins out that the casting should slide off (with a little persuasion) and the rudder should then come down and off.

[sanibel sailor]

old post, but I have done this. pull the quadrant (mine is a radial wheel), loosen the stuffing box, shaft is bronze, the heel fitting is thru bolted, threaded into opposite side, back them out, those slots are stadard screwdriver machine screw heads. impact driver helps. there is a pin on the heel fitting, mine was worn and replaced with a bronze bolt cut to length. rudder then drops out.

[shamrock]

Thanks for the information. I wound up not removing the rudder, but I'm sure this will need to be done at some point.