No, I didn't.

IF the pin is not seated in the corner of the hook when the rudder is locked down, THEN lifting straight up on the tiller arm will bend the hook and release the tiller arm without rotating the cam.



The old style (non-adjustable) rudder castings are a PITA to deal with. You've got to get the holes in the rudder just right for them to work properly.

Grease is a cams friend. Failure to grease is what fails them... and they are only $7.50

Hey, if it works...don't fix it. I thought about doing the silicone caulk with cellophane trick but I was worried that a blob of caulk, after it cured, would block access to the delrin adjuster screw. I'm still not totally convinced the cam is designed to rotate by lifting the rudder arm. That's a lot of leverage at the weakest point of a plastic part. In fact, I believe the cams are gusseted plastic and not brass or stainless for a reason. So that they will ultimately shear under stress and not destroy the rudders or castings.

I did this earlier in the season. I was able to get one of the rudders perfect the first time out and the other is still not working properly. Since I have to do a bottom job on one of the hulls now, I am planning a trying the RTV trick again. This time I think I am going to clean out all of the RTV, redrilling the rudder and than applying the RTV. Whereas I had applied the RTV and than Drilled the rudder before.

Sam

Just to reiterate what Matt said these assemblies must be greased to work properly. A dab of grease between the plunger and the cam is essential.

I once replaced a cam and the first time I went to pop the rudder up the cam stuck down. :-( I greased it and it worked fine from then on.

cheers
Bill

You don't even need a new upper casting. It is pretty easy to remove the fixed crosspin, cut a slot and fit the adjustable cam plate and screw. I have done this to two older boats with no problems.

To cut the slot simply drill a hole where each end should be, drill as many similar holes in between those as you can and file out the remaining metal to form the slot. Borrow a later casting to use as a guide if you can.

To complete the job, you might want to drill and tap the lower casting for the small rake adjusting screw, but I'm not sure how important that is. Matt Bounds might have an opinion.

Cutting the slot in the top of the castings would not be that difficult. The old style castings do not have any raised edges for the cam plate to slide on. How did you solve that?

Thanks Matt for the advice.

I just replaced my old upper rudder castings with a nice used set of adjustable upper rudder castings from PreSailed Parts. What a difference, the cams unlock when you lift the tiller now and I was able to rake the rudders more so the weather helm is just right with a raked mast.

Maybe this will help:

Was looking at the You Tube vid and got me to thinking. The axle holes for the CAMS in my castings have become eliptical over time, so that the CAMS can move about quite a bit. Has anyone got suggestions on how to repair them? Should I drill out and use a bigger set screw for the axle (or whatever kind of screw thing that it is) or fill it all in with epoxy and redrill (will epoxy even bond with the casting)?

Appreciate any comments you may have.

Cheers, PT.

Sounds to me like it would be simpler to find some new or used castings. The newer adjustible ones seem to be a huge improvement.

Antony

Do a Google search for HTS-2000 brazing rods. Never personally used the stuff, but for a small repair like that, they sound like the ticket.

Sorry for the late response.

When I did it the first time I had never seen the inside of the factory adjustable arms. When I installed the plate and tightened the bolt, I relized that it needed a spacer of some sort, so I just stacked a few SS washers until it was standing proud enough to engage in the cam.

It worked perfectly and it was only when I bought a newer boat that I saw the cast-in rails inside the arm.

I have been pondering this for a while because the local sheriffs camp has about 20 16s and 14s that we are helping with. The rudder systems are horrid. Mostly old non adjustable castings. I had an idea for a simple modification that I would like to run by you guys. The old castings use a ss tube in a hole through the upper casting that is flared on both ends to hold it in place. What if I drilled that out and drilled/ filed adjacent to it to make a slot. Then replace the tube with a 1/4-20 bolt and nut with some star washers for grip. This could be adjusted in the newly made slots to get a proper lock down. The slot would only have to go towards the cam since these old systems are always loose.

What do you guys think?

That certainly sounds doable and easier/cheaper than the old EX Raker. A few thoughts (that you may have already considered):

If, like many old boats, there's excessive slop in other parts of the system (gudgeons, rudder pins, holes in castings for the rudder pins), this mod may not be real helpful in and of itself. It's hard to describe well in words, but, if there's slop elsewhere and the new slot is wide enough, it will likely be possible to slide the new bolt so far forward in relation to the pin/sister screws on which the cam rides that the cam will not have enough clearance to rotate properly. (This can occur with the modern adjustable system and the EZ Raker as well.) If adjusted with the rudder locked down, the cam will be bound and not rotate up; if adjusted with the rudder up, the bolt will be blocked before the cam is rotated all the way down. In such case if the bolt is slid back enough for proper cam rotation, the rudder will likely still trail back due to the excessive slop elsewhere causing unwanted tiller load. I guess the bottom line is that this mod cannot remove excessive slop located elsewhere in the system. While the rudder should lock/unlock better than it does now, this mod may not fully achieve the desired result without new rudder pins and/or gudgeon/casting bushings.

The length of the new bolt that will be inside the casting should not be threaded (for increased shear strength and minimization of damage to the cam).

This sounds like a lot of work, but for a great cause. Perhaps a local machine shop would contribute (free or reduced cost) services toward all of the needed mods in exchange for some public recognition?

I believe your idea has a lot of merit and would like to hear others' thoughts.....maybe you should revive this old Hobie Forum thread?: https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=63204

Good luck and please let us know how this works out!

Sorry, but you all are getting way over complicated here.

There is a method that we called, "cutoff cams" that is super simple and works really well. No parts to buy, machine, etc.

Will have to see if I can find instructions online.

I think I can cobble together a jig to hold the upper casting on a drill press in the right orientation. I think 1/4” of adjustment is all that will be required. Drill one hole next to the current hole and then use the drill bit like an end mill to create the slot. Of course this will not solve other worn parts but it will allow a bit of adjustment. If I get the ambition I’m going to try this on an old set of upper castings I have.