[frers-list]to Art Kelley

[Arthur Kelley]

Courtney,

Apologies for the delay on this.  Had not located the final paperwork, and 
wanted to write more about it than I could on my phone.

For mine, I used a 4" lower bearing and a 2.5" upper bearing.

I would consider doing the upper bearing differently.

The lower bearing was simply press-fit into the tube.  The old one slid out 
very easily (too easily).  Using the dry ice press fit method for the lower 
bearing worked like a charm.  Provide the vendor a very carefully measured 
inside diameter of the tube and outside of the shaft and they will calculate 
the size to machine to to press fit.  My measurements were:
Housing: 3.025"
Shaft: 2.490"
Bearing ID: 2.511" +/- 0.0025"
Bearing OD: 3.033" +/- 0.003"
Bearing Length: 4"
Digital verniers for measurement are really simple to use and inexpensive 
these days if you've never worked with a vernier or dial calipers.  You need 
to measure to thousandths of an inch.

On my boat the upper bearing was a thin coating of green teflon type 
material inside a fiberglass tube, which was glassed directly into the deck. 
I used a hole saw to cut out the old tube then secured the upper as best as 
I could with resin.  Messy job that involved scoring the outside of the 
bearing to give the resin something to grip.  The upper was therefore, not 
press fit, but basically glued in place.  I used the same diameters for the 
upper as I had the lower which was not optimal since I ended up not press 
fitting it.

I probably should have gotten a piece of fiberglass rudder tube (Tides 
Marine) of the diameter of the lower one, press fit the bearing into that, 
then glassed the whole assembly in place using the rudder shaft (or some 
substitute) to ensure alignment.

Today, I would also consider one of the Tides Marine URB units, but I have 
no experience with these.  Maybe someone else here does.

I also had 2 washers made at the same time because I had an oddball tiller 
head arrangement at the time.  My boat was originally shipped with a wheel, 
converted to a tiller, and then I refit to a wheel.

Shipping on the vesconite bearings from South Africa was just about the same 
cost as the product itself.  My total cost in 2003 including DHL shipping, 
was $122.

Art


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Courtney Thomas" <courtneycthomas@bellsouth.net>
To: <frers-list@lists.frers33.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 10:20 AM
Subject: [frers-list]to Art Kelley


> Art,
>
> Just read your rudder bearing replacement summary (thank you) and have a 
> couple questions:
>
> what was the bearing length of the upper, please ? You give the lower as 
> 2.5" but no length
> on the upper, and since mine is entirely missing.....
>
> and.... for diameters did you simply give Vesconite the ID of the tube(s), 
> the OD of the rudder stock, or what ?
>
> I'm obviously tryin' to order and want to avoid custom fabrication or 
> wrong ordering, etc.....  :-)
>
> Appreciatively,
>
> Courtney
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