Rudders
We pulled the boat out of the water Monday afternoon. We had 2 techs from the boatyard shop working all Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday, and so far nearly all of today. We started by thinking we could just seal the bronze stuffing tube to the fiberglass tube with a little more 3M 5200, and then use a couple of more bolts and nuts on either side to make sure the bronze tube was in good contact with the outer fiberglass tube.
But when they went to pry apart the bronze tube, it lifted about 3/4" from the fiberglass: enough to show there was a poor seal there originally, but not enough to allow us to create a good seal. So we had to proceed with rudder removal. We received step-by-step instructions from the boat's manufacturer on how to remove the rudder, but getting to the necessary nuts, bolts, retaining pins, split rings, setscrews, and more all disconnected and undone has been a bear. After they assembled the rudder post at the factory they pretty well sealed it up with woodwork - nice teak woodwork that we don't really want to destroy. I'm still amazed these techs can work in incredibly tight spaces with their bodies contorted all about, all day long without swearing a blue streak. I can't. Guess it's part of their professionalism.
We did find that at least 2 previous attempts to stop the leak had been made by adding layers of stuffing to the stuffing tube. Well, we don't actually know it was 2, all we know is there were 8 layers of stuffing rather than the factory-installed 3. I did one which makes for 4 done by others. I suspect they did 2 separate additions of 2 layers each time, but it could have been 3 or even 4! Who knows?
At any rate, we still haven't got the rudder out and until we do we can't get the bronze stuffing tube out. There's still one more bolt and nut the factory says has to be removed, but the techs have just thrown up their hands on it. If the so-called pros can't get it...
All the while, the meter is ticking. OK, maybe I'll spend some time looking myself. Don't know what I'll see that they don't but sometimes a second pair of eyes helps. Isn't this fun? At least it's not in the 90's again today.
But when they went to pry apart the bronze tube, it lifted about 3/4" from the fiberglass: enough to show there was a poor seal there originally, but not enough to allow us to create a good seal. So we had to proceed with rudder removal. We received step-by-step instructions from the boat's manufacturer on how to remove the rudder, but getting to the necessary nuts, bolts, retaining pins, split rings, setscrews, and more all disconnected and undone has been a bear. After they assembled the rudder post at the factory they pretty well sealed it up with woodwork - nice teak woodwork that we don't really want to destroy. I'm still amazed these techs can work in incredibly tight spaces with their bodies contorted all about, all day long without swearing a blue streak. I can't. Guess it's part of their professionalism.
We did find that at least 2 previous attempts to stop the leak had been made by adding layers of stuffing to the stuffing tube. Well, we don't actually know it was 2, all we know is there were 8 layers of stuffing rather than the factory-installed 3. I did one which makes for 4 done by others. I suspect they did 2 separate additions of 2 layers each time, but it could have been 3 or even 4! Who knows?
At any rate, we still haven't got the rudder out and until we do we can't get the bronze stuffing tube out. There's still one more bolt and nut the factory says has to be removed, but the techs have just thrown up their hands on it. If the so-called pros can't get it...
All the while, the meter is ticking. OK, maybe I'll spend some time looking myself. Don't know what I'll see that they don't but sometimes a second pair of eyes helps. Isn't this fun? At least it's not in the 90's again today.
posted by Ken at
12:03 PM |
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