Rudder shaft leaking water into bilge

Graham Lorimer

Graham Lorimer

Member
Feb 13, 2009
436
Boat in Sant Carles, Spain. I live in Cheltenham,
Boat Info
Sundancer 460 2002
Volvo 480 HP
Raymarine Electronics
Avon 320DL RIB
Yamaha 25HP 4 Stroke
Engines
Volvo 74 TAMD EDC
Can anyone advise the size and difficulty of the task to fix a water leak that appears to be sea water leaking through the packing / bearing of the rudder shaft into the bilge.

Boat is a 1997 Sundancer 400.

Many thanks

Graham
 
It is just an old style packing gland...........loosen the jam nut, thighten the packing nut, then retighten the jam nut. It should be an easy job, but is usually very difficult because it is very hard to get the right sized tools in a place where there is no room to work.
 
Graham
Check here, start with post #128.

I did this with the boat out of the water. You don't have to loosen the lower nut to back out the top nut but you may have to drop the lower jam nut in order to tighten the upper nut to stop the drip. Hope this helps your understanding.

I do NOT know how much water would come in if you did this while floating. You could certainly try taking the top nut out and if it starts spraying too much put it back. It can get very tight maneuvering a pipe wrench in there. Bring every size you have. You don't need that large a wrench b/c these things do not fuse together b/c they are a non corrosive metal. Too long a handle and you can't swing it in there.

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13874&page=7
 
Ric,

Yes, on adjusting the packing gland.

However, it would be risky to repack the gland in the water since you have to uncouple the rudder tiebar and slide the packing nut all the way off the rudder post. Its a gamble because you lose the rudder if you drop it, and if you drop it you have a 1" hole in your boat.
 
Ron

Many thanks, pictures on that posting have made it all very clear.

I am 6' 3" and getting in and out of that area is challenging and often painful.

Can anyone tell me the size of those nuts, I would like to have a pipe wrench that will fit first time, also we only take hand luggage on our flights to the boat, and I don't want to take a wrench that is not big enough, and a wrench that is too big will need the handle cutting down I guess.

Many thanks

Graham
 
I actually used the adjustable packing nut wrenches from a marine store on my 450. However they could break leaving you with 1 wrench. So you should also have a pipe wrench. If you have cablemasters you will need more than wrenches for access to the port rudder. You may also need a mallet or hammer and a cold chisel to loosen the jam nut. Good luck. Oh ,get some tools on the boat.
 
Thanks Dave

Fortunately it is the Starboard shaft that is leaking. Can you "guesstimate" what size the spanners are that you use.

I have a very comprehensive box of tools on the boat, and a number of larger items in my storage shed at the Marina, but I have yet to tackle this problem, and I am concerned that the pipe wrench currently on board might be too small. Also worth mentioning that here in Europe, everything is Metric, so I have had to stock up on "sometimes hard to get" Imperial size tools. It is most unusual to find any job here (boating or otherwise) that uses Imperial sizes, so never possible to borrow from a slip neighbour.

Any estimate of the gland nut size would help me. Also, when I look on line to buy some packing for the job, I am unable to order until I have stripped the nut off to measure what size packing I need, can anyone advise the size needed, this would save two separate trips to attend to the problem.

Many thanks

Graham
 
Last edited:
Graham
Those nuts are around 2".

Frank, why would you need to slide the nut up off the rudder post?
 
On his boat the rudder post is short and access to it is complicated by the support and tie bar. My guess is that there isn't much more room than to just clear the threads with the nut and maybe someone with smaller hands/body than me can do it, but I wouldn't even try. And, that doesn't address access with wrench handles. Remember he has v-drives......
 
Your packing is probably 1/4", I repacked both rudders while on land this spring. Frank's right, I don't think there's enough room to do it without taking the tie bar off and you definitely don't want that rudder to slide out!
 
Thanks for all the advice, next trip will take some new packing with me, a range of large spanners and hope that simply tightening it up solves the leak, otherwise will totally repack while the boat is out for a bum-scrub.

Graham
 
Bum-scrub. Gotta love that one!!
 
FWIW, I have packing nut wrenches...stuffed away somewhere 'cause I don't use them.
I find a pipe wrench works much better for two reasons- one, the adjustment "fit" doesn't need to be as exact as with a packing wrench. Get a pipe wrench even close, and it'll "bite".

Second, in those tight quarters it's often easier to have the pipe wrench simply grip the round section of the packing nut, which it'll do quite easily if you're not too anal about getting a groove or two in it from the wrench teeth. Sometimes you can't get the handle in position to properly grip the square section of the nut- and you can put the wrench anywhere on the round part of the nut and get a couple of turns on it.
 
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