Vibration in Steps

[terry]

The steps going down to the galley (over the engine) are vibrating very bad.  The cause appears to be the bottom 2 step panel isn't fitting in the groove on the port side like it used to.  Don't know if the wall to the head has moved a little or what.  Even with the engine off, the bottom 2 step panel moves out of the grove when we walk down the steps.  Anybody else experienced this and successfully fixed it?

[Jim Price]

When I bought the boat 3 years ago, I had a wood guide block broken on one side.  There is not much to screw into at the bulkheads and the blocks can wear and break off.  I bough some teak stock and figured out a slightly different shape that allowed me to have more surface against the bulkheads, thus more mounting support, and reattached.  They have worked fine since.  Can't really tell you how you can repair your specif problem but I would look first to see if your problem is associated with the guide blocks and how they are attached / worn.

[lazybone]

We had the same problem.  It seemed to get worse over the last several years. Nothing we did including aligning the engine, shiming the stairs, insulating the engine compartment or turning up the radio seemed to help. The vibration just got worse and worse. This spring we changed the motor mounts(Vetus) and installed new injectors(Kabota) and AAHHHHH SMOOOOTH.  I'm not sure if it was the injectors or the mounts or a combination of the two, but were happy. Hope this helps.

[Ron Hill]

Terry : An important item on my boat is the thin piece of cardboard covered with masking tape, that acts as a shim in the port side track of the bottom 2 steps!!  It keeps the steps from rattling!!

You need a shim that fills the "void", but doesn't jam the steps from removal.  

[Footloose]

Another simple fix is single sided foam tape such as thin weather stripping.