Loose rudder stock

When we got to the boat at 4am last Friday we heard a loud thumping. I did some initial investigation and found that there was nothing obviously wrong. I had my suspicions that it might be the rudder post. We went to sleep with the intent to locate the source later in the weekend.

On Sunday night the wind was blowing again and I was able to capture this video. It shows how the rudder arm is not firmly attached to the rudder stock. I am still not sure what the clicking noise is, I think it could be a part of the autopilot.

[pro-player]http://www.syeather.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wpid-2012-01-01_19-39-49_478.3gp[/pro-player]

This picture shows the same area. The rudder arm has a single set screw coming in on a flat side, this will never be able to tighten the arm enough to prevent movement. At a minimum there would need to be two screws on that side. I believe the decision to put the screw there was based on the need to keep the the U shaped lobes clear. These are, I believe, for the emergency tiller. I have not confirmed this but there is a gadget that looks like it fits there.

 After conferring with my brother, who knows as much about mechanical stuff as I know about technology, a solution was found. The rudder arm will be removed and two new holes will be drilled and tapped. One will be in the lobe opposite the arm and the other on the perpendicular side from the existing screw.  The screw in the lobe will be an Allen head set screw, this will allow the lobe to be used for it’s design purpose. This will push the rudder stock into the corner providing a tighter fit. The other two provide additional support.