Hi Peter,

The attached photo shows the two aluminum plates on my rudder head:

[cid:d8462ca9-7402-4f97-aa68-428cdc395d34]
The plates are just 1/4" thick aluminum.  When you say you have a "bit of a wobble in the tiller", do you mean your rudder blade has some side-to-side play or your tiller has some side-to-side play?  If you meant the rudder blade, you should know there are two 1-1/2" OD X 1/8" thick PTFE teflon spacers in between the rudder blade and the aluminum plates.  These teflon spacers have a clearance hole for the rudder pivot bolt drilled on center.  The spacers allow you to put enough compression on the rudder blade; that, it doesn't have any side-to side play.  But, the spacers keep the sides of the rudder blade from rubbing on the aluminum plates while also providing a low friction bearing surface that enables the rudder blade to kick-up without too much force.  These spacers are not my idea, the boat came with them.  But, without these spacers, I would imagine it would be impossible to adjust the side-to-side wobble out of the rudder blade without also having a rudder blade that was so tight it wouldn't pivot.  Getting those 2 spacers in place when assembling the rudder blade to the rudder head is a bit of a royal PITA.  I can see how some previous owner might have just left them out.

If your "bit of a wobble in the tiller" is actually side-to-side play in the tiller itself, the photo also shows a possible solution for you.  Look at the top front corner of the rudder head.  Note the little piece of white plastic in between the tiller and the rudder head.  Fortunately, the tiller is partially raised to enter my boom room enclosure in this picture because you can't see this piece of white plastic when the rudder is down.  That piece of white plastic is a piece of PTFE teflon about 1-1/2" wide X 6" long X 1/8" thick.  It has been bent into a U shape and secured to the rudder head with round head wood or sheet metal screws.  The plastic acts as a low friction shim in between the tiller bracket and the rudder head.  You want it to be a bit of an interference fit.  My tiller has zero side-to side play.

The devil is in the details!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
1978  Sanford, MI




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________________________________
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of peter beckerman via Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2024 10:02 PM
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Winter maintenance

Hi Roger,
   Sounds like you hit on an ideal solution (no surprise there).  At some point I may follow suit, although I kinda like a little bit of varnished wood here and there in the cockpit, so long as I can maintain it without too much effort.  I'm curious though, you mentioned two aluminum plates for the rudder blade pivot.  I don't have any such plate...and I do have a bit of wobble in the tiller that I'm hoping to correct.  I wonder if you could describe these plates in a bit more detail.  I know that General Boat designs evolved over time so maybe I'm not supposed to have these.  Is anybody else familiar with these plates?

Thanks,
    Peter

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