Steering Gear Disassembly
Boat projects come in many different forms, degrees of complexity, costs, skill levels, and areas of knowledge. And some you can see daily. Others hide below the cabin sole, behind lockers, between layers of fiberglass, up the mast, below the waterline, and everywhere in between. This project focuses on a system we don’t use or even see every day. But it is critically important to a successful sail. The steering system.
We’re confident the original steering gear aboard Yara has never been replaced. The steering system is one of those systems that if it fails at sea, there’s not really a backup plan. Sure we could fashion a make-shift rudder off the sugar scoop (learn more about our sugar scoop transom here), but would that provide steerage to a 26,000-pound boat in a seaway? We also plan on bringing an emergency tiller when we adventure out, but our boat has a wheel just forward of where the emergency tiller would enter the top of the rudder post. So if we did need to use the emergency tiller it would either be comically short to clear the wheel (and perhaps lack sufficient leverage to turn the rudder) or we would need to remove the wheel & steering pedestal to give enough room for a larger sweep area as required by a longer tiller.
We could steer at sea using other various techniques (and we’re eager to read through these options). But our thought is, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Therefore, we’re working through 40 years of corrosion and seized bolts to remove the steering gear to replace or refurbish. If we can replace or refurbish the steering gear then hopefully we avoid a critical failure.
This week we begin the replacement & refurbishment with removal. We fight that corrosion and begin to remove a few of the bolts clinging on to their original heritage. It doesn’t help that we have stainless bolts used to fasten an aluminum radial wheel because when stainless and aluminum touch each other in the presence of water (or worse, salt water) things get stuck together. So let’s discuss the various ways to attempt separation:
Option 1 - manual brute force
Option 2 - penetrating fluid with manual brute force
Option 3 - heat with penetrating fluid with manual brute force
Option 4 - heat with penetrating fluid with electric assisted (AKA impact driver) brute force
Option 5 - drill out the fastener + one of the options above
Starting with option 5 and then layering in option 3 seems to be working best for us. How do you see success with removing seized bolts? Leave your comments in the linked video.
Do you notice a trend in those options above? Brute force! Overall, this is one of those projects that doesn’t really take a lot of skill. Nor does it take a lot of money. With enough brute force and time, we can remove most of the seized nuts and bolts. And this disassembly is just the first step. Future videos and blogs will go into the details around refurbishment and replacement.
This boat life isn’t always glamorous. But with a lot of brute force, and a yacht of love, we will get this project done.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/WNE9rK7hM7c
