What holds the rudder in the boat?

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

What holds the rudder in the boat?

Post by mike cunningham »

Ok, I know its a stupid question but as I ponder my rudder stock coming out of the rudder tube in my Freedom 30 I see the circular edson quadrant bolted to the stock then just above the quadrant assembly there is a single 3/8 bolt into the stock and across the bore with a nut the other side.

which of these is actually taking the vertical rudder load? I assume when in the water there is not a lot of weight on these components because the rudder is somewhat buoyant but when out of the water its an 80 pound dead weight. What's holding it in the boat?

I ask because I am considering a linear AP drive and I will need to install a tiller arm. I only have about and inch of rudder stock above the quadrant so the bolt that's in there will have to be removed or I will have to work around it. The emergency tiller fits over this bolt, Is that its only purpose or is it structural with respect to holding the rudder in the boat?

Would not be so good to remove the bolt and have the rudder fall out. Once a tiller arm is installed I would think the problem goes away because the secured tiller arm itself will prevent any vertical movement of the stock.
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

bad
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Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:14 am

Re: What holds the rudder in the boat?

Post by bad »

Pictures? Sounds like your rudder shaf above the quadrant is unsupported. What is bellow the quadrant? And any chance you can attach your linear drive to the quadrant and preserve the use of your emergency tiller?

Erik

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rvivian
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Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:08 pm

Re: What holds the rudder in the boat?

Post by rvivian »

Mike -

I happen to currently have the stern panel off on my F-30 looking for a leak.

So I took a couple of pictures with my phone looking from as far above as I could reach showing my linear drive installation.

Note - the top of the pictures is the stern of the boat and the emergency tiller still goes over the bolt and inside the top of the shaft.

The linear drive is attached to the starboard part of the stern and the connection to the lever arm is made below the arm.

Hope these help.
Linear drive 1.jpg
Linear drive 1.jpg (16.54 KiB) Viewed 5928 times
Linear drive 2.jpg
Linear drive 2.jpg (25.21 KiB) Viewed 5928 times
Heart's Desire
Freedom 30
Shelton, WA

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Re: What holds the rudder in the boat?

Post by mike cunningham »

Erik, this is extremely helpful and looks exactly like my arrangement looking down on the quadrant disc.

So the tiller arm fits right over the rudder post that is good!!

On my boat the emergency tiller bolt sticks out either side of the post, hex head one side, nut on the other. Does the tiller arm fit over the bolt or on top of it?

Also, where did you source the tiller arm?

Mike
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

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rvivian
Posts: 210
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:08 pm

Re: What holds the rudder in the boat?

Post by rvivian »

Hi -

The arm for the linear drive was on the boat when I bought it. But the old Autohelm 6000 stuff didn't work right. I put in a Raymarine x-10 autopilot controller and the add-on gyro, new fluxgate and GPS. The autopilot computer is located on the bulkhead on the stern end of the quarterberth. I added a controller at the wheel too.

I have not interfaced it with the computer for automatic routing through preset waypoint routes.

The linear drive tiller arm is a standard Edson part and blowing up the pictures I took it looks like:

712
325 - 18
Edson
C - 4??

In the pictures it looks like it is over the shaft bolt, but I can confirm that when I get back to the boat on Friday.
Heart's Desire
Freedom 30
Shelton, WA

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