Rocklobster
New Member
So I put the boat (1997 330 DA, twin Inboard) in the water today and had to take it back out about 1 hour later. I thought it was a little strange the bilge pump kept running!
One of the rudder assemblies was leaking between the flange on the bottom and the fiberglass. The packing nut was fine. It was squirting in pretty quickly.
Interestingly, the previous owner had hit something with the rudder and had damaged the fiberglass. Who ever re-installed and bedded the brass (?) castings did a horrible job. When I removed the 4 bolts which holds in the assembly, the whole thing practically dropped out of the bottom of the boat. I think they used window caulk or something!
Anyone know what material I should re-bed it with under water? I hear 3M 5200 is too permanent. I'm going to clean everything up really well and re-bed it. Some say to not tighten the bolts hard until the bedding has a chance to cure. Sort of like making a gasket.
Other people are telling me I should take apart the other side that wasn't leaking. I don't think I'm going to so that since it's still original factory installation. I figure that should last a long time right? Any thoughts?
If anyone has any experience in bedding underwater items such as struts, etc please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you........Joe
One of the rudder assemblies was leaking between the flange on the bottom and the fiberglass. The packing nut was fine. It was squirting in pretty quickly.
Interestingly, the previous owner had hit something with the rudder and had damaged the fiberglass. Who ever re-installed and bedded the brass (?) castings did a horrible job. When I removed the 4 bolts which holds in the assembly, the whole thing practically dropped out of the bottom of the boat. I think they used window caulk or something!
Anyone know what material I should re-bed it with under water? I hear 3M 5200 is too permanent. I'm going to clean everything up really well and re-bed it. Some say to not tighten the bolts hard until the bedding has a chance to cure. Sort of like making a gasket.
Other people are telling me I should take apart the other side that wasn't leaking. I don't think I'm going to so that since it's still original factory installation. I figure that should last a long time right? Any thoughts?
If anyone has any experience in bedding underwater items such as struts, etc please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you........Joe
