Hi
Has anyone had any issues with a cluncky metallic sound(?) from the steering in a wave sea. As you go over the waves get a bang/ knock. Off the French coast and sea general big

Barry Tiernan
Sulito

Hi Barry

I've had a clunking rudder from day one. In my case it's the pintle bolts widening the holes in the gudgeons. I have tried new bolts, lots of washers, all to no avail. Wiser owners than me have advised reaming out the holes to an imperial size up (I think from memory M12 to 1/2") but I am too scared to lose metal from the gudgeons. Mind you, if I leave it any longer they will ream themselves.

Could that be it?
Peter

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Hi Peter

Thanks for that. I can see the movement in the rudder stock and agree with you that making the holes bigger for shims is not sensible
I will wait until the boat is out on the winter to assess fully
On the North Coast of France at the moment and the big rooley seas make the banging worse, keep waiting for something to break? I have checked the rods and greased them, they seem fine

Regards
Barry

Hi Barry

There are three things I know of that go clunk in the 325/335 steering arrangements.
1 Loose rudder pivot bolt ( ours nearly fell out off the Channel Islands)
2 Wear in the rudder fittings, which was much improved by replacing 12mm bolts with 1/2" and I can't believe this involves any loss of strength.
3 There is some play in the steering mechanism itself on wheel steered boats. This would be really tricky to get rid of and probably not worth the effort.
I guess the important thing is that though the clonking is a pest it probably doesn't imply anything important amiss.

Martin
335/50

Hi Martin,

P335 #045 Surprise also has the infamous clunk. This Spring I measured all parts of the rudder stock and the gudgeons. The hole in the gudgeons are worn out. The holes through the rudder stock are still perfectly round with 12,2mm.
What I am going to do is to ream the 4 holes in gudeons to 14mm. Then I will have 4 inserts (with a collar) made (inox or brass) that fit the 4 holes (2 per gudeon) and have an internal bore diameter to fit the existing 12mm bolts. This way I don’t have to drill in the rudder stock.