New ABYC Upper Rudder Bearing Recommendation Compliance

[Bill Bowers]

The molded deck upper bearing pocket on our boats relies only on 6 bolts and bedding to secure the upper bearing flange. The molded opening is about 3/8” larger  diameter than the bearing tube and is more or less centered in the pocket, but the bearing wants to sit well forward when the stock is aligned in the original non self aligning lower roller or sleeve bearing, resulting in the after bolts not even being fully surrounded by fiberglass.  After loss of vessels lacking mechanical support of the upper rudder bearing new ABYC and NBR recommendation's suggest the upper bearing bolts be fully housed and that the bearing hole be a close fit to the bearing body to avoid excessive shear load on the bolts when the rudder is impacted.  

As done by Tom Keller we added a 1/2” epoxy board ring to support the new self aligning Jefa spherical upper bearing.  The spherical roller cage levels itself to the floor of the molded deck pocket.  This eliminates the 3 washers which were under the forward bolts of the original non aligning roller which was 3/16” proud of the forward side of the pocket floor .

[Chris]

That looks fabulous, well done! It's on my list also, ideally next year along with another difficult job in that aft compartment. I bet it makes quite a difference, both in steering feel and in sense of well-being!

Cheers,

Chris