SO45.1 & SO45.2 rudder bearing issue
May 25, 2012 11:10:47 GMT
Post by ubuysa on May 25, 2012 11:10:47 GMT
EDITOR: now published as Hints and Tips article: www.jeanneau-owners.com/hintsandtips/Rudderupperbearingsupport.html
I have a 1995 SO45.1 and a friend in the same marina has a 2002 SO45.2. We have both recently had to drop our rudders and we both had a similar serious problem with the top bearing. This is intended as a "heads-up" to all older SO45 owners.
The top rudder bearing sits in a metal frame. This has been cunningly deigned to trap and hold water right next to the bearing, where of course it happily rusts away the bearing carrier and the frame itself.
Once my bearing frame had been removed we hit it several times with a small hammer, large bits of rust flew off with each stroke until there was very little metal left holding the top bearing in place. A failure of this bearing frame would be catastrophic I think.
It's very difficult to properly inspect this frame, it's tucked right underneath the emergency tiller housing. I would suggest you remove the emergency tiller cover and shine a torch into the space, if you see any signs of rust I would suggest you remove the rudder and the top bearing frame and inspect it properly as soon as you can.
Seeing the same problem on two similar boats and seeing how easily the bearing frame traps water leads us to think this is a design flaw. We've both had a new bearing frame made locally, the new one has a slope on the part that supports the top bearing so that any water runs off.
The links below are to a couple of photos on my public Dropbox account.
dl.dropbox.com/u/25934908/IMG_0228.JPG
dl.dropbox.com/u/25934908/IMG_0232.JPG
I have a 1995 SO45.1 and a friend in the same marina has a 2002 SO45.2. We have both recently had to drop our rudders and we both had a similar serious problem with the top bearing. This is intended as a "heads-up" to all older SO45 owners.
The top rudder bearing sits in a metal frame. This has been cunningly deigned to trap and hold water right next to the bearing, where of course it happily rusts away the bearing carrier and the frame itself.
Once my bearing frame had been removed we hit it several times with a small hammer, large bits of rust flew off with each stroke until there was very little metal left holding the top bearing in place. A failure of this bearing frame would be catastrophic I think.
It's very difficult to properly inspect this frame, it's tucked right underneath the emergency tiller housing. I would suggest you remove the emergency tiller cover and shine a torch into the space, if you see any signs of rust I would suggest you remove the rudder and the top bearing frame and inspect it properly as soon as you can.
Seeing the same problem on two similar boats and seeing how easily the bearing frame traps water leads us to think this is a design flaw. We've both had a new bearing frame made locally, the new one has a slope on the part that supports the top bearing so that any water runs off.
The links below are to a couple of photos on my public Dropbox account.
dl.dropbox.com/u/25934908/IMG_0228.JPG
dl.dropbox.com/u/25934908/IMG_0232.JPG