I wonder if any other 34 owner has experienced what I think is excessive rudder movement fore and aft when the rudder is firmly grasped. Could explain the odd 'clonk' noises I have been hearing when sailing in a following sea.
Yacht is 10yrs old so I guess the lower rudder bearing needs a little attention.

By Richard on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 07:45 pm:

Philip,
I have a 1994 HR34 with tiller steering, and have just had the rudder off as I had opposite problem - tightness in steering. My problem was a binding bottom bearing.

If you have excessive play fore/aft, I think it may be more than the bottom bearing. With my bottom bearing off, there was no play in the needle-roller bearing in the hull itself.

Contact Peter Cartensen in HR parts (mailto:info@hr-parts.com) and he will send you diagrams and drawing of the rudder set-up which are very useful.

Dropping the rudder is not a huge job, but must be done with boat in slings as rudder has to drop lower than the level of the bottom of the keel to clear the hull.

Good Luck

Richard