Steering Cables, Rudder Post Seal and Emergency Tiller

Steering Cables

General work notes as I prepare for the next round of maintenance

I make it a ritual every spring to crawl, no, stuff, myself into the starboard cockpit locker and inspect and grease the steering cables and the sheaves that lead up to the binnacle. Grease also got applied to the shaft outside the binnacle, and inside by removing the compass.

I also need to replace the sheave pins and align and tightened as needed.

Staying centered. I should be able to adjust the eyebolts on the quadrant on the rudder post to center the wheel. There should be double nuts on the eyebolts to lock them in place on the quadrant. If the steering gets misaligned then I will need to loosen both eyebolts until the control cables are loose enough to remove the compass from the binnacle and move the bicycle chain a couple of teeth on the sprocket which is inside the binnacle on the shaft to the steering wheel. Then readjust the eyebolts and check the rudder and wheel alignment. Don't put the compass back on until you have it the way you like it. Tension on the cables should be snug but not too tight.

One of the most insidious places to look for problems is to loosen the cables at the quadrant eyebolts, then remove the pins holding the sheaves at the bottom of the pedestal (yes, from that cramped position inside the cockpit locker) - it is very likely that the pins have started wearing through. This loosens the cables (a sure sign of wear) and increases the wear rate because there is no longer a full support on the center of the sheave. It probably takes ten years before there is significant wear in light day sailing, but if you carry a chute in heavy weather for one long offshore passage (2000 miles) you could get the same wear in two weeks.

Rudder Post Seal

I made an initial attempt to disassemble the packing gland held together by four bronze bolts but was thwarted in my efforts when I could remove only one of the bolts due to the restricted vertical clearance created by the location of the steering quadrant immediately above the packing gland.

I then enlisted the services of the Boat Yard and working with one of their mechanics, with me lying under the stern seats, we disassembled the steering quadrant, which provided full and easy access the packing gland. From that point it was simply a matter of removing the four bolts, sliding the top ring upward, removing and replacing the old packing in both the top and bottom rings using a pick tool, remembering to cut the packing at a 45deg to get a maximum overlapping seal, and completing the reassembly. The whole job took about an hour and a half excluding the time to obtain the packing material, the exact dimensions of which I regret to say I do not recall. The significant point in the process was the necessity of the removal of the steering quadrant. I don't know if this would be required in all I-36's but if the clearance to remove the bolts isn't there, then it probably probably requires the removal of the pedestal.

Emergency Tiller

Digging deep under the anchor locker a few years back, I discovered a beautify emergency tiller all wrapped in carpet. It was in perfect shape, still varnished like new. All the fittings are stainless steel. I hope I never need to use it but it's nice to know it's there needed.