My rudder post sticks up thru a piece of wood screwed to the cockpit floor. On top of the rudder post is a solid brass cap with three bolts thru it. One bolt attaches the tiller, one bolt goes thru two flanges on the back of the cap and compresses the cap around the rudder post, and the third bolt goes thru the front of the cap and apparently keeps the cap from twisting around the rudder post.
The serial number of my Typhoon indicates it was built in 1974, although it came with a 1978 owner’s manual when I bought it from the original owner. The manual says to “tilt the tiller upward” to apply grease around “the bearing at the top of the rudder post,” and if I want to remove the brass cap “both the rudder post and tiller cap have machined keyways in them.”
My problem is that if I tilt the tiller upward I don’t see any bearing - my brass cap has just a solid brass top beneath the tiller, and I don’t see any keyways with keys to remove the brass cap. (I want to remove the brass cap both to lubricate the bearing and because I’m painting the entire boat including the cabin floor with two-part polyurethane paint.) I’ve removed all three bolts and used Liquid Wrench before trying to pull the brass cap off by hand without success.
How can I find the bearing and remove the brass cap? Is my problem that I need to remove the wooden plate on the cockpit floor thru which the rudder post protrudes to see the bearing and keyway? I hate to tap on the brass cap with a hammer not knowing exactly what I’m doing.
Appreciate if anyone can give me any suggestions. Thanks very much.
Roger R
rosenwalds@hotmail.com
Typhoon Tiller and Rudder Post Bearing and Keys
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Roger R
Re: Typhoon Tiller and Rudder Post Bearing and Keys
I might clarify that I'm not painting the ENTIRE boat with two-part polyurethane paint, just the deck and topsides.
rosenwalds@hotmail.com
rosenwalds@hotmail.com
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Bill Bloxham
Re: Typhoon Tiller and Rudder Post Bearing and Keys
Hi Roger
The wood circular piece comes off with 4 screws and some scraping, and covers the deck-to rudderpost connection. This is a great Ty leak point, and as long as you are intent on removing the tiller "cap" bronze you can reseal the joint with a flexible caulk, like Boatlife or 3M 101. I do mine every year - the deck flexing seems to break the seal frequently.
I got my bronze cap off with a combination of rust penetratant and heat (a propane torch - be careful) along with a lot of hammer blows to the cap. It took 3 or 4 days of spraying, banging and heating to get it off the first time, but since I've cleaned it up it's very easy now. If you are concerned about the bronze head, use a thin strip of plywood between the head and the hammer. The idea of the hammer is to facilitate the entry of the liquid wrench, not bash the cap off.
A real caution - do not try to pry the cap up using the teak base as a pressure point. You could easily crack the deck and admit water, which will rot the coring.
My '74 has no keyways to hold the rudder shaft in alignment with the tiller. The "third bolt" bears on the flat on the rudder shaft to lock it all up.
If you need a spare rudder bearing, I have a few left to sell ($4.00 ea. plus postage - email me if you are interested.) Before you do anything with the bearing, lift the rudder shaft first and clean the shaft with bronze wool - the corrosion build up abrades thru the rudder bearing. Mine will come up about an inch. While you have it lifted, try some grease. I use lubriplate white lithium grease - seems to last the season. Which brings me to two things:
1. Why remove the head if you can lift the shaft enough to grease it?
2. If you will go to the expense (sweat & materials) of painting the boat, have you sounded the decks yet for delamination? My fairly well kept (before me) Ty had delamination by the chain plates, the tiller base and forward cockpit sole, and front deck by a vent. If you need to do this it isn’t too expensive ($200 tops before paint) but you need to dry the boat over the winter with the deck top surface off.
Check posts on this board for repair info on that subject.
Good luck - hope it's easy for you. This boat's worth the effort.
Bill
mmmmmmbill@aol.com
The wood circular piece comes off with 4 screws and some scraping, and covers the deck-to rudderpost connection. This is a great Ty leak point, and as long as you are intent on removing the tiller "cap" bronze you can reseal the joint with a flexible caulk, like Boatlife or 3M 101. I do mine every year - the deck flexing seems to break the seal frequently.
I got my bronze cap off with a combination of rust penetratant and heat (a propane torch - be careful) along with a lot of hammer blows to the cap. It took 3 or 4 days of spraying, banging and heating to get it off the first time, but since I've cleaned it up it's very easy now. If you are concerned about the bronze head, use a thin strip of plywood between the head and the hammer. The idea of the hammer is to facilitate the entry of the liquid wrench, not bash the cap off.
A real caution - do not try to pry the cap up using the teak base as a pressure point. You could easily crack the deck and admit water, which will rot the coring.
My '74 has no keyways to hold the rudder shaft in alignment with the tiller. The "third bolt" bears on the flat on the rudder shaft to lock it all up.
If you need a spare rudder bearing, I have a few left to sell ($4.00 ea. plus postage - email me if you are interested.) Before you do anything with the bearing, lift the rudder shaft first and clean the shaft with bronze wool - the corrosion build up abrades thru the rudder bearing. Mine will come up about an inch. While you have it lifted, try some grease. I use lubriplate white lithium grease - seems to last the season. Which brings me to two things:
1. Why remove the head if you can lift the shaft enough to grease it?
2. If you will go to the expense (sweat & materials) of painting the boat, have you sounded the decks yet for delamination? My fairly well kept (before me) Ty had delamination by the chain plates, the tiller base and forward cockpit sole, and front deck by a vent. If you need to do this it isn’t too expensive ($200 tops before paint) but you need to dry the boat over the winter with the deck top surface off.
Check posts on this board for repair info on that subject.
Good luck - hope it's easy for you. This boat's worth the effort.
Bill
mmmmmmbill@aol.com