Off center rudder on R27

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A boat is nothing but a bunch of opinions and compromises held together by the faith of the builders and engineers that they did it correctly!
 
A simple question - how do you center your rudder on these boats?
Does it matter if it's from port or starboard as to number of turns from stop?
 
On the particular boat in question here, the only way to center the rudder is to be in motion and wait for the boat to go in a straight line. Once centered, the wheel turns about twice as much in one direction than the other stop to stop. If, as Ranger Tugs is claiming, this is correct and per spec for all Ranger 27's, then I'm going to need some sort of explanation on WHY it was designed this way. Still eagerly awaiting response from the factory, either to this thread, or to my Email, or to my voice mail.
 
There are two questions here that I see. One is the rudder being offset in its mounting position and the travel of the hydraulic ram. The reason we offset the rudder is to be able to pull the shaft.

We do not intentionally mount the hydraulic ram in a position where the travel is different from port to starboard. If this is done, the simple answer is it should be moved if it bothers you or you feel the boat doesn't have good control in one direction or the other. The boat in question was in charter for over a year and it has been in service for over three. I know we spent two days on the water with the original owner so we also have water time on it and didn't notice anything worth checking into. I don't think we have a matter of safety here. If it bothers you, suggestion is to relocate the ram so it is equal to both sides.

Thank you,
 
Thanks for chiming in Andrew. I'm sorry this has become a public issue on this forum, but with your support people telling the broker and the seller that this skewed rudder travel was per factory spec and how all Ranger 27s are, I had to do some more research. As a mechanical engineer well versed in hydrodynamics, I just couldn't accept that severely skewed rudder travel like this would be per design for this boat.

Rather than air our dirty laundry on this forum, let's discuss this via PM. Sending you one now, please respond.

Thanks
 
I have an 2015/16 r27 and my rudder goes about two turns to each side from center. While the turn radius to each sides may differ due to the offset rudder and the start thruster may be a different discussion.

Instead of a rudder, perhaps, it would make sense to put a shroud around the prop and then use articulated louvers at the exit to steer the thrust instead of using a rudder. Would also eliminate the rear sidethruster.
 
Thank you all for responding to this thread and especially to those of you who sent me PMs. I've been working with Ivan and Andrew at the factory, and we've resolved getting this rudder issue repaired. As was mentioned earlier, they've been up to their eyeballs with the boat show and hence were unable to respond to this issue as quickly as they would have liked. I'm impressed with their support, especially considering this boat is out of warranty. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling buying the boat knowing the factory supports their product like this.

I sign papers tomorrow and the boat will be MINE! Stay tuned for a barrage of stupid questions as I get to know this boat.
 
Cudo's to the factory support stepping up to the plate to resolve this issue for you. The question is what was determined to be the cause that offset the steering angles ? Mounting location? incorrect steering cylinder? incorrect components installed? I would assume in a assembly line type installation the mounting location should be standard. Once the design engineers determine the correct location a drill jig is made and the location is standard for each model. I would also assume that the cylinder lengths would be the same lengths for a particular model install. I would also expect that once the install is completed and checked off the build continues. There is a point where the steering system is commissioned, the hydraulic lines connected, system bleed and confirmation of travel without restriction is confirmed and checked off. This is part of a steering system install and also part of the PDI check sheet (Rudder / Hydraulic Ram: verify ram is able to move without hitting ⬜ verify black caps are installed on ram ⬜fittings are tight ⬜ No leaks on ram or fittings ⬜ Ram hooked to correct hole on rudder ⬜ Rudder has full travel ⬜ Stop nut on tiller ⬜) Is this a one off boat with this issue or is there a possibility of other boats built this way? If there are other boats built this way the TUGNuts forum would be a good start to get the information out to owners to inspect the rudder travel and if it is found to have limited travel in one direction a follow up post of what the issue is and the correct repair is. This is an information based forum. We all realize mistakes are sometimes made and mistakes can be corrected.When mistakes are made Fluid motion has a great tool to get this information out TugNuts.
 
Posters above have covered this topic well. This late post show images of the set up on my R27, build late 2011. On my boat about 4 ¼ turns of the wheel are required to go from hard over port to hard over starboard. From neutral helm (steering straight ahead) an equal number of turns produces hard over port or starboard. The first image shows the slight rudder offset required to allow propeller and shaft to be removed without interference form the rudder. The next two images show the arm positions for hard over turns to starboard and to port. Each is 45 degrees from the neutral position. The rudder is at the same angle as the arm.
 
Osprey, looks like your R27 was built correctly. Hopefully that's exactly how my rudder swing will look after Ranger fixes my boat.
 
I have to admit that, despite having no concerns about steerage, I checked my 2017 R29 CB this last weekend. It was perfectly centered. 🙂

One of the things I enjoy about this forum is the open discussions and new things to check. And I also finally installed my galvanic isolator! It’s amazing how drilling holes and cutting wires on a newer boat gives one pause. Ultimately very simple.

Eric
 
I agree with BB Marine, would like to see a service bulletin posted.
 
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