Hey guys...need some direction here. My rudders appear to be leaking (or dripping) a little more than I would prefer. I gave them a good greasing and that appeared to make it stop for the short term but they are now leaking/dripping again. I cannot seem to find anything as far as a schematic or spec sheet goes...are they designed to be dripless or _______? A few people have said they just need to be re-packed, if so, how is this done? can it be done with the boat in the water? materials? any input is highly appreciated. Thank-you. Jonathan.
Knuckle Breaker It sounds like the packing is worn or the packing gland needs to be tightened. There will be a collar around the rudder post with a nut on either side (Roamer experts may be able to be more specfic). Tighten these a turn or two at first. **Make sure you turn each nut the same amount or you will "cock" the gland and risk damaging the rudder shaft. If that doesn't work you will need to re-pack them and I wouldn't recommend doing it in the water. If you aren't sinking, it can probably wait until you haul the boat in the fall. The toughes part is to remove all the old packing. This is best done with a specialized tool that looks like a tiny corkscrew. You will screw it into the old packing and pull it out in many pieces. You will probably bang up your knuckles in the process though. New packing is applies in several layers. You will cut the packing in the exact length of the diameter of the rudder post using an angled (or scarf) cut so that when it wraps around the shaft it makes a clean seam. You will then rotate the next bit of packing so that the seams are not stacked on top of each other. A little bit of white grease will also help to make the seal. Good luck.
Jonathan, I had the same problem on May 24 weekend, a slow drip is ok {very slow}, mine was like a running hose, ha ha. We had the marina { acali } take care of the whole thing, they said it had to come out of the water to be able to do this. They pulled the boat out, repacked it, tightened everything down and put it back in the water, all for $500. This maybe a do-it-yourself job, but I didn't know how to do it. Worth every penny and haven't had a prob since. Packing materials: $10.00, Labor & GST $490.00. Dave P.S. Still haven't had the time to come out and look at yours, we should arrange a date and time soon. The guys at sea and ski say you've done a wonderful job!
Dave, Sorry for the delayed response. I have to pull the boat out this weekend to swap props...I am going to give the packing a try myself...worse comes to worse it only cost me the materials as the boat is already out. You defn need to come down to Beach Grove for a viewing! send me an email...Are you docked at Acali? Jonathan.
