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Chrysler 22' Rudder Stuck in up position

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:45 pm
by nayear
Hi everyone! This is my first post and probably not my last for this is my first boat. I am now the proud owner of a 1977 Chrysler 22'. In order to get her home we had to motor about 7 miles to our harbor. About half way home the tiller handle broke off. It was quite rotted on the inside, so no surprise there, but here in lies the problem: the lines become uncleated and retractable rudder came up, & despite pulling on the lines, we could not get it to go down. It is stuck! Now that we are safely in our slip, we can manually push the rudder down, and it floats right back up, but with no play on the lines. How do we get the rudder back in the down position? We still have the portion of the tiller with the cleat for the lines, but the lines seem stuck fast. Any advice would be awesome.
Thanks!
-Noah

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:02 pm
by turbo1168
Sounds like the two lines for the rudder have gotten tangled up inside the rudder "cheeks". Sounds like you might need to unbolt the rudder from between the cheeks to untangle, and if the lines look at all bad replace them. I don't know your location, so not sure how cold the water is for a swim to unbolt it. Here in Florida the water is still quite warm. A quick and cheap tiller handle can be made from a cut down post hole digger handle, about $17 from a hardware store. I did just that with 4 coats of varnish.

Go to this link, then the how-to section, then How to Repair Your Rudder Assembly to see how the assembly works.
http://chryslersailing.lizards.net/

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:49 pm
by nayear
Thanks for the advice! After a little bit of research, it sounds like this may be the problem. We live on Puget Sound, so the water is pretty cold. This may have to be a repair we will have to wait on until the boat gets hauled out.

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:28 am
by CaptainScott
Welcome aboard Noah!

Glad you have found a set of instructions already for your rudder!

Hey, Puget Sound you say? Where are ya?
I live just Noth of Mill Creek in the South Everett area!
Alan Hodge here also lives in the Puget Sound area!

Love to meet ya one day and if at any point you need a hand with your Chrysler, there is the forum but we are also in the area!

Scott

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:04 am
by nayear
We're just north of Olympia, moored in Boston Harbor. I'm relatively new to boat ownership, so having folks in the area who can provide advice & assistance is more than welcome!

Re: Chrysler 22' Rudder Stuck in up position

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 6:02 am
by Omega205
Hi, I'm the new owner of a Chrysler 22 as of July 3, 2018. Last weekend the same thing happened to my rudder, so thanks for post! Looks like I'll be pulling the boat out of the water in two weekends.

Re: Chrysler 22' Rudder Stuck in up position

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:08 am
by Omega205
I forgot to mention, my tiller also became very difficult to move. I do hope it is just the ropes tangled.