JP3 Rudder Bearings

[billandpixi]

Wauquiez 48S with JP3 Rudder Bearings
I need to drop my rudder so I can open it up and investigate why it turns slightly on the shaft.
It looks like the top bearing holds the rudder in. It has two threaded stainless collars on it but the bigger one threads into an aluminium casting - OH DEAR two dissimilar metals plus salt = STUCK. How can I free it up - the access via the stern lazarettes ia appalling.

The bottom bearing also seems to have an aluminium casting and the aluminium is visible from under the boat. It appears to be quite badly pitted (again I suspect aluminium and stainless parts are together) Is this serious? Will I have to dig it out of the glassfibre and epoxy a new one in place?

The bearings themselves are fine maybe I should try to re-do the rudder in-situ?

All contributions gratefully received.

[MarkJ]

On our Beneteau.

We found the glue holding the top stainless steel sleeve the bearing rotates around was not adhering to the slots on the inside of the sleve.

It just needed to be re-glued properly.

The other thing we found was the bottom bearing could have been fixed by taking a slice out of it.

Basically we paid over $500 for a new top and new bottom bearings when it was the glue at the top and an 'easy' fix at the bottom!

Mind you, had we hauled without the spare parts but then needed them the 3 week wait would have meant another $500 haul out!


Good luck with it.

Mark