Rudder and maintenance plan.

Hey guys. I have some maintenance that I'm trying to get done so I can get going this season. I'd like you guys to read through my plan in case I run into any inconsistencies. The boat is an '81 with all original hardware as far as I can tell. I've sailed the boat for the past few years and it's been great racing against or going out with my friend and his old 16. The mast step has the typical broken hole for the link so I may replace that soon. The wheels in the jib traveler cars are falling apart and seem to be tearing up the jib sheet so I'd like to replace with the newer design like these https://www.strictlysailinc.com/product ... car-block/. After a fixing a soft spot on the deck yesterday which turned out great (thanks a lot to this site) I decided to check my rudders. I never thought they had been a problem before but I found that I can't get the cams to return to the upright position when trying to raise the rudder. This makes it impossible for the rod on the top casting to go back into the spot in the cam to lock in the downward position because the cam is already stuck down. I have to pop the cam back up by wedging a flat head into it and depressing the plunger. I don't think the problem is with the spring/plunger/plastic screw, I think the cams are just old and broken down. They seem to flex and I think the rod just flexes the arm part of the cam and gets past it without moving the cam. Now the boat came with a bunch of spare parts and actually came with two complete other rudders. The castings on these rudders are much less worn than the ones currently on the boat that I have been using. These also appear to have old stiffening washers installed. Still only one of these rudders engages the cam properly. All rudders have the flared pins through the cams so I don't think the cams have been replaced unless they replaced them and flared them like from the factory. The rudder pins have some wear/grooves in them and when everything is tight there is still a lot of movement in all directions. I plan to replace the cams and install with the new style sister screws? haha my dad called them sex screws. I don't think they spring/plunger need replaced but I certainly could if you guys recommend. Do you guys think on one pair I should drill out the pin holes in the castings if needed, install those bushing pieces, and install new pin as well as add the components of the stiffening kit? My boat has the old style brackets (gudgeons?) for the rudder castings. I'm a bit weary of unscrewing the old, resealing and installing the new black one piece gudgeons maybe someone on here could advise whether it is worth the upgrade. Are they even interchangeable? Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

One piece gudgeons are the way to go. I loved mine and they bolted right in with no issues. As far as rebuilding maintenance of the cams and locking I’d pull it all apart and clean evenything. If you slightly hone the spring hole to smooth it out it should help things too. The springs will need to be replaced along with cams. Get. Ew ones and it’ll help a bunch.

It’s probably not worthwhile to install one-piece gudgeons, but I would definitely recommend drilling out the rudder castings and installing the heavy duty black rudder pin bushings. I am also a big proponent of using stainless steel rudder pins - they simply do not wear out.

Regarding the rudder cams not operating properly, it could be the cams themselves but it could also be some other things too. If the cam is not properly lubricated or of the preload is set too tight, even a new cam won’t rotate properly. Also, if the holes in the rudder blades are worn out (ovalized), it will allow the upper casting to slip out of alignment with the lower casting/cam. This will allow the pin (or slider plate on newer castings) to slip past the cam rather than forcing it to rotate. I recommend manually releasing the cam with a screw driver as you have already done. Then with the back of the boat elevated on the trailer, lock the rudder down (engage the cam) and grab the tip of the rudder blade. See how much you can move the rudder within the casting assembly.

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Thanks! I think I've already done this earlier after watching an instructional video on YouTube about servicing the rudders. When it was locked down the could still move around a lot. I think a lot of it was the worn down rudder pins. If I remove the rudder blades and check to see if the holes are oval would this rule that problem out?

Thanks for the input guys. Have a pretty good idea of what I'm gonna do. One more additional question. Has anyone used an old style mast base with the new style mast step? If I'm not intending to use any more rake, will they be compatible?

Well, parts came in. Everything was right except what I was afraid of, instead of selling me the used old silver mast step which was our plan, they accidentally sent me the newer black style one. I really don't want to get into having to change shrowds or rudder rake? or whatever it is the gentleman helping me mentioned. He said it might work just not be perfect which is fine. Anyone have this problem? Old style everything but new black style mast step?