The Ballad Exchange

This is how my rudder looks at the bottom. This bearing, is that standard equipment? if so, where can i get a replacement?

I'm pretty sure mine doesn't have that...? I've just trawled through my many, many photos of Triola and can't find one of her rudder - I'll take one next time I am down on the weekend!

Is the bearing rumbling?

No, not really, but it's heavy on the rudder

That is really, really strange. An open cage steel bearing, underwater, exposed to salt, sand, marine growth.... Probably worked quite smoothly for the first few days.

Our bottom assembly is steel or bronze (can't recall which -- will check) and had a Tufnol (phenolic & canvas) washer bearing between the rudder and the bracket. The shaft rides inside the bracket with no liner. These days, the bearings would almost certainly be made of Acetal/Delrin (reinforced nylon) or HDPE/UHMW-PE, and the rudder shaft would ride against a sleeve liner, like this:

Mine were also Tufnol, now Delrin. My bottom shoe is stainless.

prjacobs wrote:Mine were also Tufnol, now Delrin. My bottom shoe is stainless.

Peter, did you use a Delrin flat washer, or a bushing like the one shown?

I copied the original Tufnol bushings, made them on my lathe.

What ho Bob, Peter

Can you explain the process of getting your rudder off? Next winter I'm looking at dropping the rudder off, cutting it in half, repacking it and sealing it (currently full of water ) and replacing that bearing.

How did you drop the stock out? Does it lift up far enough to drop off? Or did it involve some cutting? Any photos?

Hope you are well! Got out on Triola over the weekend - mast stayed pointing upwards so thats a good start!

Hi Mark,
IIRC, there are two bolts going through the bottom "shoe" to slide it off the shaft. The "shoe" contains the bottom bushing. There are also bushings at the hull bottom and at the top where the tiller is attached. Then it's just a matter of removing the tiller fitting on the rudder head and the whole thing should slide down and out the bottom. If you do it with the boat in the water make sure you tie a rope to it.
On my Ballad, when I reinstalled the rudder, all three bushings did not line up perfectly, so I had to persuade the top end of the shaft over a bit to go through the top one .. not a problem. Also, if you are on the hard you might have to dig a hole under the bottom of the rudder to be able to get it down all the way.
I'll dig out some pictures tonight.

Thanks Peter! It would be great if you had photos. I might add it to my website actually for future reference for other Ballad owners too.