removing the helm wheel

[sailorboy1]

I'm sure I'm like a lot of people and sometimes remove the wheel while on mooring etc to have more room in the cockpit. I normally wrap the shaft key onto the shaft with some masking tape to keep track of it. But this is a pain in the ass and I'm been thinking of other options and am thinking of just epoxying it onto the shaft. This should keep it from just falling out but if ever do need to remove I'm sure a hammer and punch would just knock it off.

Thoughts and what do you do with your shaft key when taking the wheel off?

[HappyMdRSailor]

The wheel "nut" on the Morgan has a 45ish bevel on the first 3-5 threads... Tightening said nut without the wheel locks the key in place....

Can't see why on earth you couldn't epoxy or dab of 4200 in place... It's not like this shaft/keyway will ever need replacing with new....

[Cotemar]

We did it all the time on our Catalina 380 with the Edson wheel. I used clear Boat Life, Life seal to bond the key in the key slot where it stayed for the five years that we owned the boat.