Hi I'm new, and I'm nearing ready to sail, but there are a few issues with my rudder/tiller setup that I can't find any mention of. Question 1 is, after removing the rockers and springs, when I reach my pinky down, there are prominent grooves in the casting. Whoa backing up sorry this is a '71 16. I'm assuming this is from wear and not normal? They're smooth, but...I have some really nice marine grease. Might this be something I can wait on? Question 2 is, I read about shimming the rudders and did that with yoghurt lids. I haven't done the tiller part yet as I want access to figure out the rocker situation first... the rockers I have are clearly brand new, but they have almost 1/8" play side to side and I don't know if they're "stock". I'm thankful for the sister screws so I can figure it out, but are the rockers something that should be shimmed too, to keep them centered? Finally the PADEYE 11470000 has a hole directly between it. Aside from friction, I'm assuming one of the previous owners didn't wash off the salt and left it wet. This makes me want to remove the stop knot every time I get home and rinse off. How would you recommend repairing this without hiring a welder or just gorilla taping it? A thought was to drill a rivet from the worst side, spin it over and put a new rivet in over fresh metal. There was an aussie or a kiwi recommending not stop knotting it there but going through, around the beam, through an eyelet, but I can't find that anymore. He also had a way of wrapping the downhaul around the boom differently, "aussie style". I hope I'm posting in the right spot... Oh and I have a twist on the shimming with plastic lids that I learned from "fixing" guitar picks. After you use a hole saw esp, but even if you use scissors carefully, and have the holes the right size in the center, stack them tightly and rub them on carpet in full strokes, rotating each time. It's not hard on the carpet but use one you don't care about anyway. It will give a near perfect edge. Also try using dental floss all the way through the case and shims, part the shims where you want the rudder, slip it in, bolt, pull out, voila. Took me hours to figure that out, and I was cursing like I was already a sailor. Ha. No, I just crew sometimes. Thanks to Mr Miller for all the info I've found here and the 40 times I've watched your videos! Cheers from Santa Barbara, which is FINALLY not sunny for a few days. Pray for rain.
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