Michael, A 20 degree deviation on wheel centering is an AWFUL lot of wheel travel with no explanation. I suspect Bruce’s boat has a 44” diameter wheel which means at 20 degrees of travel, the Turk’s head knot would have moved roughly 7 ½” to one side or the other. Generally speaking, if my hand moves the wheel that much, the boat changes course dramatically, even with a big wheel.
Most C&C Yachts had radial drives that are held in place on the rudder shaft by an interference fit of the two halves of the radial, machined undersized by .003” for a machinist clamping tolerance and then a keyway is cut in the radial drive to accommodate a stainless key that locks the drive wheel in place on the rudder. Generally, even if the boat is run aground on the rudder, the radial drive wheel or rudder post may bend, but it won’t slip on the post unless it is not clamped tightly at the hub of the wheel. I too suspect a weakened idler assembly that is allowing the idlers to pivot after tensioning. The next step is the idler wheel letting go and dropping various bits into to the bilge whilst the cable goes completely slack. Boat handling suffers when this happens.. Chuck Gilchrest Half Magic 1983 Landfall 35 Padanaram, MA From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Brown via CnC-List Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 11:09 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Michael Brown <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Stus-List Edson wheel chain jumping links? If the radial wheel was slipping on the rudder post it could cause that issue. Maybe use a sharpie and put a line down the rudder post and onto the radial wheel. 20º is not much movement, you may require a fine line. Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2018 01:54:12 +0000 (UTC) From: Bruce Whitmore <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Hello all, OK, I think I have a weird thing going here... I have adjusted the wheel to center the turks head knot straight up when the wheel is centered.? I got it all nice & straight a few weeks ago, and came back to the boat to find it about 20 degrees off to port.? By the way, were talking about 20% off on the wheel, not 20% of rudder. ? After installing my autopilot, I again adjusted it, this time getting the cables set to approximately the same amount of adjustment on each side to the adjustment bolts through the radial drive wheel.? This required jumping the chain 1 or 2 notches on the wheel sprocket. All was well for a couple weeks, and behold, on Saturday I went back only to find the turks head knot about 20 degrees to starboard.? During these adjustments, I have made a point to keep the cable deflection adjusted to be relatively minimal (say 1/2" or so?), without getting so tight as to reduce the feel of the wheel.? I've notice no issues whatsoever when we're out sailing. During the first set of adjustments, I noticed the idler wheel bolts were a little loose, and tightened those.? Considering the radial wheel bolts connect to each end of the cable, and the cables attach to the chain, I can only think the chain is somehow jumping on the sprocket. Thoughts? Bruce Whitmore 1994 C&C 37/40+, "Astralis"Madiera Beach, FL (847) 404-5092 (mobile) [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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