Hey Ron yes the tiller plate (what I call it, I’m not sure of the proper nautical term, if any) is bolted through the cockpit floor and supports the upper portion of the rudder shaft. The tiller fork is attached to the rudder cap which sits on top of the rudder post and is held in place with a through bolt. There could be play in any of these connections: tiller to tiller fork, tiller fork to rudder cap, rudder cap to rudder post, rudder post to tiller plate (maybe that should be called rudder plate), and the tiller/rudder plate can be loose in the cockpit floor. It’s a good time to look at all of them and especially to ensure that water is not getting into the cockpit core through the tiller/rudder plate bolts. I did do all this work on the hard. If in the water the rudder should float and be held in place by buoyancy, but if it has saturated it can sink and then you’ll have water coming in! Would be smart to run a line or net under the rudder to keep it in place if doing this in the water.