E29 Rudder Question

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cjmcfall

Junior Member
Hi all,

Great site! I purchased my 1973 E29 last summer and am in my second summer of living aboard.

She has performed very well and seems to be a strong boat.

The question is this: My rudder seems to have a little "slop". When sailing parallel to the waves my rudder post moves around in the housing. I can feel it on my tiller and can hear a soft bang. Nothing is moving very much, but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if so, what did you do about it?? I don't remember if it made the same noise last summer, as I was still learning the boat and its quarks. What could be making this happen, or is this normal?

Thanks,
C
 
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glen_dc

Member II
hey

I bought my the very first boat ever (happened to be e-29) three days ago. I cannot answer on your question about rudder for obvious reasons but can you share your experience about livability of e-29.

Esp. Is the Admiral ok or you're by yourself?
 
treilley

treilley

Sustaining Partner
Probably rudder bushings. Not sure about the Ericsons but they were fairly simple to replace on my Pearson 28. I could only feel the play in certain conditions.
 
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cjmcfall

Junior Member
Livability

Congrats!!! I think you enjoy your purchase.

Living on "Stella" has been a real joy! I lived on an S2 in Florida for a few years, but now I am back in Michigan and thought I would try it again (For a few months a year at least). The cabin of my E29 offers enough room for me, and my 70 pound German Shepard. The head is a little small, but having a bath house near my slip makes up for it. I have made a few improvements this year which have made life a lot easier. Microwave, new hatch screens, canopy, magma grill, pressure water, the list goes on.....

Where in the Chesapeake are you planning on keeping your new E29?

I went out sailing last night and it seems that the knock in the rudder is coming from the top of the rudder post, at the base of the tiller. I am not going to worry about it, I'll take a look at when she is on the hard this winter. :cheers:
 
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Dave G

Member II
E-29 Rudder

Welcome to the E-29 club. I have owned an a 1971 E-29 tiller model for about 4 years. I had the same sloopy rudder problem you describe. It can be a bit unnerving in a heavy blow. I found 2 problems on my boat.

First the the rudder fitting that connects the tiller to the rudder post wasn't firmly attached. I couldn't clamp it any tighter so I drilled and tapped 2 additional bolts to make a firm connection. That took care of most of the sloop.

The second fix was to drop the rudder and replace the bottom bushing. There was way too much clearance here. This allowed the rudder post to bang around inside the tube making the occasional clunk sound. The rudder on an E-29 can be pulled while the boat is in the water. As long as the rudder has no cracks and isn't saturated it will have slight positive bouyancey. If you elect to replace the bottom bushing you probably need to haul out to get a good fit.

I made my own bushing with some UHMW tubing material, if you don't have a lathe it should be a fairly easy job for a local machine shop. I found it neccessary to custom fit the bushing because things had some wear.

Good Luck,

Dave Green
E-29 Spirit
Bellingham, WA
 
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cjmcfall

Junior Member
Thanks

Dave thanks a lot! That is exactly the conclusion I came up with on my sunset sail the other night. Since I live in the north she is on the hard for a few months every year, sounds like I have another winter project.

Do you see any issues with waiting?

I am not sure if the rudder is water-logged, but I think safer is better then sorry. I don't really feel like fishing around for a sunken rudder in the nasty marina water.:egrin:

Also, I just completed a mahogany tiller extension for the E-29. It follows the natural curve of the tiller. I will post pictures in a few days for those who are interested.
 
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Dave G

Member II
E-29 Rudder

As long as the thump doesn't drive you nuts, shouldn't be any problem with waiting untill you haul out.

Love to see a picture of the extension.

Enjoy,

Dave G
 
jreddington

jreddington

Member III
Yep,

Have the same thing on my '84 E-28. Had a bunch of other issues so didn't get to it last winter. Will take care of it once I pull at the end of this season.

The thread below has a lot of good info on this. Basically, two options. One, a procedure outlined by West System. The other is just shimming with Delrin or bronze. I think the Ericson owner's manual mentioned both.

Besides this thread you can also search on rudder and bushing.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=1737&referrerid=234
 
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