skylark
Member
I have noticed water seeping in at my starboard rudder, it looks like it's coming from the plate 4 bolts and not the packing, is this as easy as removing the plate re-caulking with the boat on the hard?
water seeping at rudder
- Thread starter skylark
- Start date
quality time
Well-Known Member
- Oct 30, 2007
- 2,366
- Boat Info
- Miss Stress
2006 50' Post
- Engines
- Series 60 Detroits
To fix it properly you will need to rebed the external rudder tube/plate. Rebedding the inside backing plate might stop water from leaking inside the boat but not from intrusion into the glass. I removed and rebedded all of my underwater gear a few years ago and it wasn't too bad.
skylark
Member
I'm new to rudders and tube/plates, is it as simple as it sounds? any gotcha"s ? is there a diagram somewhere?
Thanks
Thanks
quality time
Well-Known Member
- Oct 30, 2007
- 2,366
- Boat Info
- Miss Stress
2006 50' Post
- Engines
- Series 60 Detroits
I guess it depends on how mechanically inclined you are. This is strictly from memory when I did it a few years ago.
First, you'll have to disassemble the steering linkage on the affected side, remove the packing nut then drop the rudder out. Undo the 4 (or 6?) bolts holding the rudder tube in place. The plate that you see on the inside is a backing plate. Push the tube out and clean the area and holes of old silicone. Goop around the bottom of the tube, underside of the outside plate and the bolts with 5200 and reassemble.
The rudder tube is basically a thick wall tube with a square (or rectangle?) mounting flange on the outside and the backing plate on the inside. Hope this helps.
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First, you'll have to disassemble the steering linkage on the affected side, remove the packing nut then drop the rudder out. Undo the 4 (or 6?) bolts holding the rudder tube in place. The plate that you see on the inside is a backing plate. Push the tube out and clean the area and holes of old silicone. Goop around the bottom of the tube, underside of the outside plate and the bolts with 5200 and reassemble.
The rudder tube is basically a thick wall tube with a square (or rectangle?) mounting flange on the outside and the backing plate on the inside. Hope this helps.
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Skylark, You should not have water seeping from the plate. I would take a picture and post it here, Then let FrankW and some of the other guys chime in. Its not unusual to have a small drip from stuffing box etc... but the plate may be another matter. Probably OK but it would not hurt to let some of the more exper guys have a look see. Good luck, JC
skylark
Member
I'll snap a pic
Last edited:
skylark
Member
my3sons
Well-Known Member
- Feb 24, 2009
- 3,046
- Boat Info
- 2004 400DB, Onan 9 kw Generator, Highfield RIB,
- Engines
- Cummins 6CTA M-3
If you haven't already, wipe everything dry with rags / paper towels so that you can definitively say that it is coming from the plate or the bolts or maybe the packing gland itself. I just did this with the port rudder on my boat, it was the packing gland, a turn of the gland nut and tighten the locking nut and it was done, hopefully yours will be that simple. Good luck.
skylark
Member
update: before pulling the boat out for the winter on Wednesday I went down to the ER and found that the leak is not the rudder plate, the water is coming down from behind the trim tab juice bottle, Its got to be the swim platform bolts. it's on the hard and will look at it in the spring
