Taitonga

Rudderhydraulik repair - Ruderhydraulik reparieren

How to open the rudderhydraulikplace and improve the system on an Ovni 395

Ruderhydraulik öffnen und optimieren

I had a leak in the rudderhydraulik and lost all the liquid in my Hydroem hydraulicsystem.

To investigate the problem I removed on the dry all the screws at the rudder (easy) and refilled and pumped the system.
The upper hydraulicfitting was leaking only a bit but the Hydraulikcylinder was loosing the liquid significantly.

I hired a professional via Shelter Bay Marina (Who took a big chunk of the bill as commision) to check the problems:
Deenys Guzman, Owner of the company: Seetecmar
infoseetecmar@gmail.com;
Tel + 507 6982-9361
Panama
It looked like a very good work and in my opinion a fair price!
BUT I can NOT recommend him: A year later I discovered that the cylinder leaked again. I had to find out that the piece he installed was 1 mm too thick!!!
=> The seals were not ok for this and it looks like he used the wrong steel-material.
I got a new cylinder with now an anode fixed to it from hydroem directly and installed it myself => Much much money spend on this item!

For dismounting the cylinder (easy, only normal tools are requiered => 1,5h) it is best to get something (or someone) to hold the rudder up, otherwise you can´t disconnect the lower part of the cylinder.

The cylinder was taken to Deenys mechanic workshop and examined.

Bad News: (Electrolytical) corrosion and deformation => Either get a new one or make a new one or do a repair on it.
I chose a new one to be made (Quicker than getting a new one from Hydroem in France (good communication!!!) and ca. 2/3 the price of a new set).

Before setting the renewed cylinder in I improved the system against chafe and put some hoses from below up the ruddershafft to the cockpit to protect the hydrauliklines.
Aswell I replaced the normal plastic-hose from the tank to the Hydrauliksystem with a more stable one.

I made a 10mm hole just below the fixed rudder into the part I can get up. In case of a failure I can dive down and get a bolt into the hole to prevent the rudder of comming up, which will cause too much pressure on the steering (our autopilot failed). I covered the hole with Sikaflex.

I made a 10mm hole into the lowest part of the rudder in the foremost position.
In case of a steeringsystem failure, the idea is that I might dive down and get a rope into the hole and get a piece on each side up and maybe move the rudder via the winches.
I covered the hole with Sikaflex.

If you want the rudder completely down you have to unscrew the big plates (and maybe have spare fittings (delrin?) at hand).