Hi Andrew, I have a 1981 C&C34 so not certain if we have the same rudder shaft arrangement, but I'll explain what I have and you can have a look at yours. A friend has a 1981 C&C36 and his setup is the same.
Crawl back below the cockpit to the rudder shaft and look for a grease cup on the rudder shaft housing. The cup is about midway up the shaft housing facing forward. It looks like a 1" diameter metal, screwed on cap about an inch tall (tall measuring horizontal). Get yourself some good, waterproof, grease (the local marina recommended "Green Grease" but was out. I stopped at WM and got some "Corrosion Block, Waterproof Grease". It's blue. Dig out whatever old grease you can from the grease cup and refill with fresh grease. Screw the grease cup all the way back on. Then repeat -- remove the grease cup, fill with fresh grease (no need to clean out because there will be a small amount of fresh grease from the previous cycle). Repeat. Eventually you will see the old grease comming out the top of the rudder shaft housing. If the boat is in the water, you can see the top of the rudder and watch for fresh grease coming out. I did this about 20 times before much old grease started to move -- really old, brown, hard grease. The PO of my boat did not understand that the fill, screw on, remove, fill, screw on ...... had to be repeated many times. He filled the cup once, turned it on, and thought that was it! PO used to brag how balanced the boat was as he let go of the wheel and the boat continued on -- fact was the steering was so stiff it took a lot to move the rudder. Now I can steer with one finger after putting nearly an entire tube of grease in. You will find that crawling back to access the grease cup isn't a picnic. The C&C36 owner installed a Zerc fitting right on the grease cup and ran a 3ft hose forward. I did the same. Now we can attach a grease gun to the easily accessible hose and lube the rudder shaft. Once a year ought to do it. Good luck! Jeff Laman 1981 C&C34 "Harmony" Ludington, MI ________________________________ From: Andrew Means via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Monday, June 28, 2021 6:58 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Andrew Means <andrew.cnc...@gmail.com> Subject: Stus-List Where to start with a gradually stiffening rudder? [C&C 34] Hey all - When we bought our 1978 C&C 34 it had a nice smooth rudder action via our wheel helm. Over the past two years it's gradually stiffened and I think we need some amount of lubrication, but I'm not really sure where to start to diagnose the issue and come up with a plan to fix it. Anybody familiar with the steering setup on the 34? Andrew
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