Thrashie wrote:
i was having issues with my rudder till my dealer showed me how to tighten the lines up on the rudder (where they screw down with the phillips head on the back)..now i keep a philips with me, but havent had to readjust/tighten them back up yet. but it was so bad to the point that i could turn one handle and the other stayed in it's position, to even get the rudder to turn, had to move both handles....kinda sucked that trip. now when i turn my rudder control, both move and stop at about the same positions.
but i have the new style rudder, not sure if the same thing would help the old style.
I had a similar issue and I think I made it worse by taking the screws out of the equation. My idea was to simpy tie a knot in the lines that was too big to pull through the rudder hold. This would eliminate the need for the friction under the screw head altogether. Then, I installed two small stainless steel turnbuckles between teh grey line and the waxy white lines that go to the rudder. My thought was that I could use the turnbuckles to tighten the lines and never touch the knot at the rudder end again.
So far, I don't think it is a good strategy. The turnbuckles only have an inch or two of stroke. The knots in the white line at the rudder holes pull so tight that it is now impossible to untie them to pull out any slack. So, to tighten any further, I need to untie the knots at the turnbuckles, move them back and retie. A total pain in the butt....
My next plan of attack:
1) use my iPhone video camera to look inside the hull for any crossed lines at the controls
2) replace the lines with Iron Wire - if I can figure out how to get at the rudder controls
3) lube the rudder controls and readjust them to both align together
4) keep the turnbuckles, but also use the screws to avoid having to untie/retie knots
5) hope that the friction under the screw heads holds Iron Wire. I would like to find a set of washers that have a grippy side to them to pinch the line under the screw head.
Any comments/advice on any of these is appreciated. I won't get to the boat for a few weeks to try this stuff out anyway...