Leaking under rudder stuffing box

[Nonchalant1]

Murray,

I'd call Steve McPhereson at Sam's and ask him. He is a veritable walking encyclopedia about how they built HAtts. Are both rudders the same in this respect?

I have a 1978 53MY and I can check mine for you Monday, but there may e differences.

Doug Shuman

 

[first230sl]

Thanks Doug. i will call. I called a week or more ago and left him a message, but he did not return my call. I will try again.

Yes - if you happen to be at the boat I'd love to hear if your are built up in the same way mine were. I just can't imagine it coming from hat that way - especially since it precluded me from changing the packing without removing the rudder first!

Thanks!

Murray,

I'd call Steve McPhereson at Sam's and ask him. He is a veritable walking encyclopedia about how they built HAtts. Are both rudders the same in this respect?

I have a 1978 53MY and I can check mine for you Monday, but there may e differences.

Doug Shuman

 

[first230sl]

Did more work on the boat today. Took the starboard rudder port out since I decided to do them both. As with the port side, the rudder port and bolts are in excellent shape. Well - the bolts *were* in excellent shape before I took them out. I had to abuse them a bit getting them out, and had to grind two of them because they spun. No problem since I am buying new nuts and carriage bolts anyhow.

BTW - Jim - you are correct, there is no cutlass bearing in these on the 58.

I have decided to go ahead and 4200 the ports directly to the inside of the hull. I had to level the fiberglass on the inside of the hull slightly - I probably took off between 1/8 and 3/16 of an inch of fiberglass in an area that is over 2.5" thick. I can't imagine that causing any significant loss of strength. I have it leveled now to the point where the port appears nicely in line and the sits flat with no rocking. Nothing some 4200 can't seal. I am going to replace the packing while I have it out - no sense putting it back together with the old packing.

So - Monday morning I'll find the bolts and nuts, and when they arrive, start putting it back together. In the meantime I have to cut 3/4" off the bottom of the rudder ports and clean everything up.

Oh - and I put a small hole in my water tank with a wrench. One of the nuts was way too close to the tank - almost impossible to get it off without abusing the tank. I am glad it wasn't a fuel tank . Easy to fix once it empties (which it is doing now).

That's my update. Thus far most things have been challenging, but nothing really difficult. The hardest part was convincing the rudder ports to dislodge themselves from the hull. Nothing a wood block and a sledge hammer could not take care of.

Will let you know as I go along.

Take care - Murray

 

[first230sl]

All done (was: Re: Leaking under rudder stuffing box)

I have finished working on the rudder ports and the boat is back in the water now. No apparent leaks - so far, so good.

Overall this is how it went:
- removing the linkage and rudder shaft arms was pretty easy - had to pound a few things here and there and managed to break off one screw - but no major difficulties there. Reassembly was also easy becuase the rudders are keyed - no worries about alignment. I replaced some of the bolts here and there in the linkage.
- getting the lock collars off and rudders out also pretty easy - had to pound (with wood block to protect soft metals) a bit, but no major issues.
- getting the bolts off that hold the rudder port to the hull was a chore because of the surface corrosion. The first few turns of the nuts were easy, but then they became very difficult and time consuming (given the lack of space) to remove. Had to grind 2 of the 8 off.
- getting the ports dislodged from the hull was a major chore. Used a sledge and wood block to first break the seal and then to drive them upward.
- I ground the flange bedding area as flat as I could by eye. Took off maybe 1/8" of glass (it is over 2.5" thick in that area). In all, because previously for some unfathomable reason, the ports were on a 3/4" bed of glass, I lowered the ports by nearly an inch. This makes it possible for me to change the rudder packing now without hauling the boat and removing the rudders!
- Then I used epoxy thickened with glass strands (which I cut from cloth) to form a very thin bed for the ports - just enough so that they were perfectly in line, and 100% matched to the flanges. I used saran wrap which was a pain, because it stuck to the epoxy in places. I won't use saran again. Maybe wax paper?
- I removed the ports again when the epoxy was hardened.
- Then I bought new bolts ($350 Canadian for 12 (bought some spares), including taxes and shipping - holy cow!) and using them bolted the flanges down in a bed of 4200. Of course, I also bedded the bolts in 4200.
- Reinstalled the rudders (my bottle jack was very handy here - they are heavy). Put the linkage back together.
- Along the way, I replaced (and re-bedded) a few swim platform bolts that were dripping a tiny bit, refreshed my zincs, etc.

All in all, including haul out, buying a grinder, a 5/8" drill bit and various other necessary parts, I'd say the repair came to about $1500 Canadian ($1200 US). Most of that was the haul, and as I say about $270 US was the bolts. Also spent about $80 on teflon packing.

I am glad I did it. Now I can sleep 100% soundly, I know much more about my boat, and I porbably saved myself some money. I also really enjoyed it, as I always enjoy working on the boat, despite the sweating and occasional swearing.

I've attached an "after" shot before putting the linkage and packing nut back on. You can see the "before" shot in the first posting by scrolling to the top of this page.

If anyone has to do a similar job - ask me!

Best regards - Murray

 

[Traveler 45C]

Congrats! The job looks sweet.