rudder questions...

[Ptownkid]

Other than having to move your steering cable to the other side of the motor and the support on the strut, does it matter at all whether your tiller faces port or starboard?

[cadunkle]

Yes. If you put the tiller arm on the other side it'll steer backwards. Left turns right, right turns left.

[Ptownkid]

HAhahaaha...that's fine I'm dyslexic anyway...don't know how I over looked that one. Thanks, lol.

[mapleleaf]

My new Marine Hardware rudder is keyed and tiller is same as original...And it's installed on my boat!!!!! Port and all!!!!

[Ptownkid]

Congrats duder...yeah it is port side tiller, the guy at Marine hardware must have been losing it.

[Ptownkid]

So i found a starboard side assembly really cheap...and i talked to a local machine shop about adding a keyway 180 degrees to the existing one to make it port side...does anyone see any kind of problem with that?

Also, looking at the pictures and looking at my original supra rudder, the keyway does not appear to be exactly 90 degrees to the rudder...anyone know what the angle is and why?

[Ptownkid]

tap, tap, tap...this thing on?

[cadunkle]

I'm no pro boat mechanic, but I don't see why it would make a difference if it's just a straight tiller arm with nothing fancy going on. Out of curiosity, what kind of price difference are we talking?

[Ptownkid]

The price diff is $150, local machine shop said they could add the keyway for $20-30...

The part I'm having a hard time understanding is why the keyways on these rudders aren't at 90 degrees and I wonder why...

[DAFF]

If I remember right my arm was forward just ahare. 30 deg or so. The reason is more than likely clearance so the steering cable doesn't wrap itself around the main rudder shaft. Think line of sight to the eye of the rudder arm....

[Ptownkid]

Oddly enough, skidim said that theirs is keyed on both sides and it's 90 degrees...my original supra rudder is keyed slightly (5 degrees maybe) towards the back of the boat...I wonder if this has any consequence?

[DAFF]

Only consequence would be a 5 deg loss in turning right on the rudder.....

[Ptownkid]

Exactly...but there must be a reason for it...

[DAFF]

Geometry!!! You cant bend light nor the steering cable. On a full RH turn the rudders arm is extended backwards and the swing of the arm will go past the centre point of the main rudder shaft. This could in turn cause the steering cable shaft to kink, bend and eventually fail.

[Ptownkid]

That would make sense....by my keyway is further back...

[cadunkle]

Geometry!!! You cant bend light nor the steering cable. On a full RH turn the rudders arm is extended backwards and the swing of the arm will go past the centre point of the main rudder shaft. This could in turn cause the steering cable shaft to kink, bend and eventually fail.

Note this is why the cable is mounted on a ball and can pivot some amount. Of course it can't take extreme angles though.

[Ptownkid]

So i guess the best thing to do is the mount the rudder and mark where the new keyway is gonna go based on the cable length...done!

[DAFF]

Did you move or replace the steering cable ??? If not, then determine the full movement potential of the cable and devide by two / find the centre. This will give you an approximate measurement of where the rudder arm placement was before..