Rudder connector ball and socket damaged

I just noticed after re-looking at the picture, that cap doesn't even hold the weight of the tie rod. It's there just to prevent the stud from slipping out of the ball. Even a cotter pin through an extend stud would have been better than this design.

timjet wrote:So the mystery regarding the reason for that cap is solved.



I can't figure out the thinking involved in the design of that stud and cap.

Click to expand...

There never was any "mystery" about that cap. As far as the design goes, it is exactly what I told you it was, a way to assign a part number for the assembly and make the builder a few dollars more over the life cycle of the boat. It is a bad idea which drove an even worse design.

Rick,
You're probably right where marketing once again drove the engineers to design a part for their purpose rather than a proper design for it's intended purpose.

At least the replacement tie rod end is designed properly with a substantial end cap, but oddly it has the same part number as the original.

Oddly? Not really. Hopefully they improved the product but still have captured the market for replacements as the old ones fail.

It is interesting that the service guy you talked to said the he figures most of the fleet has those "caps" lying in the bilge. That means there is probably a small fleet of boats out there with link rods depending on nothing more than gravity to keep the rudders connected.

All I warned about was loss of steering but if Marin's doomsday scenario occurred then the link rod could be bent as well as the steering ram and/or its mounts if they were designed by the same guy who came up with the captured stud idea.

Genmar/Carver filled a market niche for years by building a low cost boat. Components were sourced from a variety of low bidders, whether marine grade hardware or otherwise. Genmar's boats are legendary for boat show and dock appeal. They went bankrupt in 2009.

to be fair, rudder connections are routinely replaced on many non-Genmar vessels because age or build/design slop in the system wears out other components as the AP unit tries to compensate. Next time the boat is out of the water, attempt to move the rudders by hand. If there is "too much" movement, check out all your components inlcuding the keyway and key on the shaft.

Me, I'd replace the trunnion, tie rod, connector link and check the entire steering gear out. Genmar built it you know.

TGWhite,

All the components of the steering are in good shape. I replaced the suspect tie rod end due to it's probable damage during installation. I can't be sure the manufacturer was responsible for the damaged bolt head on the tie rod end, but if so it was a matter of poor quality control rather than poor materials. The replacement is of a slightly different design, the cost to manufacture probably being no more or less than the original.

Not sure I agree with you on the quality of a Carver, but from I've learned since I've bought the boat, it compares in quality pretty much with the Sea Rays, Cruisers and Mainships that were of the same vintage. Carver did not however use balsa or plywood as a core below the waterline like Cruiser did.


If you are implying Carver went out of business because of poor quality, I think I can safely disagree with you on that. The economic climate had everything to do with their undoing. Unlike Sea Ray, Carver did not mass produce trailer boats with much wider appeal that*undoubtedly*had much to do with Sea Rays survival.