Hello all,

This is my first post on what will be a long term project boat. It's working and sailing but it needs some love and attention after the previous owner just found it too much for him at his stage in life. 

Thus my first question I hope you can help me with please.

The steering is moving in/out and I am trying to disassemble to see what's going on. The sprocket looks to have a possible aftermarket bolt drilled (removed from the pic) to hold it onto the shaft, but it's not budging anyway. However I can't see how to release on the other side (steering wheel). 

There is a bolt/screw underneath the steering but that too is rock solid. Should it turn/pull if so what for?

Many thanks in advance for any help received.

Andrew

The bolt/screw underneath the steering is for fixing the steering wheel so it doesn't turn anymore neither by hand nor by autopilot.
As there is so much missing and damaged of this steering I suggest to install a quite new steering e.g. a hydraulik steering:


--
Gerhard Mueller
Amel Sharki #60
Currently Kalamata, Greece

Hello Gerhard

Many thanks, I'll stick it on the list for now as the jobs are mounting! Since posting, my friend helped me strip the steering with pullers. There was a broken circlip and some seriously seized metalwork. A mix of hammer, heat and pullers, it moved things along. 

There is some play in the shaft vertically/horizontally, but what we thought would be a worn bearing was a plastic washer. Anyway nothing to worry about at this point. Maybe one day I'll revisit this and improve.

On a fantastic note, I had a lovely quick response from Amel today in less than 2 hrs copied below;

Hi Andrew
Welcome to the board !
One thing to check with the steering is the cables and how well they are moving
These are very hard to replace for the older models - I looked into buying spares a while back and might inform any future decisions wrt moving hydraulic

All the very best
Miles
Maramu 162
UK

He Andrew
We sail from 2004-2015 an Euros 39 built in 1968
You have a verry good boat but a lot of work
You get it !
We had a hydraulik steering sytem too For the engine we had an Perkis 4108
Have a nice sailing
Elja
SM Balu 222



Von meinem iPhone gesendet

Thanks to all for your replies. 

I got the wheel back on today with the play removed which was the intitial plan. I also ditched the cog and chain for the autopilot which isn't working. I can't see that being reinstated but as we do, I'll keep the parts for now.

Re the cables, I haven't checked the condition as the aft cabin is a storeroom for looming jobs. It is smooth though for now. Hydraulic no doubt the way forward, but maybe with an autopilot integration at the same time. With me being in Greece, there isn't a lot of point for autopilot, just if I venture further one day. 

Hi Elja, 'You have a verry good boat but a lot of work' - You're not kidding! Will be rewarding though :)

Thanks all.

Hi Andrew,

We own a Sharki (Frangipane) and my steering wheel attachment looks very similar to yours. We too have some vertical play in the  steering wheel. I thought this was caused by a worn bearing. Therefore I want to disassemble the steering mechanism. Do you have some more info on how you performed this disassembly? And I am interested in the worn out plastic washer. Any information will be much appreciated!

Kind regards, Bart.