Rudder Repairs

Here's the original problem, a stud has corroded through that is used to bond the rudder to the prop shaft. The problem was worse than we thought and all the studs had problems with corrosion. It had been 20 years or so since the stuffing box had been installed and even with all the nuts off, everything was still tight.

Next job was to get the locking key out of the slot on the rudder post. I would swear to the fact they had welded it in! We tried pounding. We sprayed it with every conceivable 'loosen-em-up-mouse-milk' made. We heated it. We cooled it. We drilled it. And then we pounded it some more. Finally we drilled it again, put the torch to it and pounded away with a chisel and sledge hammer. It budged, slightly. More torch, more pounding and it started giving.

With the key out at last (this was a several hours job over a 3 day period), we were able to remove the cap off the stuffing box. Well this wasn't too bad and only took about 20 minutes of pounding, spraying and prying to loosen it. Now we expect to lift the stuffing box off the rudder post. Guess again.

The way my brain works is if you have studs mounting into the hull, the fitting (in this case the stuffing box) should lift straight up off the studs. I guess they think differently in New Zealand. After much pounding and prying, the stuffing box came up about 1/2" and refused to come up any more. It would twist from side to side as much as the studs would allow, but no higher up the rudder shaft. At this point I used a cutting wheel on the dremel and cut the studs off at the fiberglass. The stuffing box unscrewed off a small pipe and came off the rudder post. They may have used studs, but it's going back on with lag bolts.

Now we had to drop the rudder. First job was to support the bottom of the rudder and remove the rudder shoe.

Then wired brush the old paint off the heads of the rivets.

The angle grinder gets the rivet heads down flat with the shoe.

The 1/2" drill bit makes short work if what's left of the rivet heads and a hammer and punch knock the rivets out the other side. The only problem here was a large wood screw on the leading edge of the shoe that was hidden by old bottom paint. Once it was removed, the rudder shoe dropped off and we dropped the rudder from the bottom of No Worries.

The rudder post shoe is a very nice looking piece of hardware and is in great shape after a little cleaning it's ready to go back on.

The rudder is cleaned and prepped while sitting on the concrete and Ana cleans the rudder skeg.

Once we dropped the rudder, another problem showed up. It first appeared that there was quite a bit of damage and rot where the stuffing box pipe comes through the hull. After chipping away a little glass, it was apparent that the boatbuilder had filled the cavity with some type of foam that had eroded away.

I was able to clean the area out pretty well and filled it with epoxy. Then I used 5200 around the stuffing box pipe and attached the stuffing box back onto the inside of the hull. Looks like a pretty good seal this time.

The mounting surface for the stuffing box was epoxied and sanded. Lag bolts were used instead of studs. Decided to turn the box 45 degrees so the lag bolts could bite into new wood.

Put new zinc on the rudder and reattach the steering and autopilot and the job is complete.