[C38] replacing packing material on rudder post

[Don Strong]

I have fixed the rudder post leak on Discreet Charm by replacing the 
packing in the packing gland.
The fix has given us absolutely leak free use for fours years of heavy 
sailing.
This is a difficult job until you master the technique.  After two long, 
laborious failures, I found
that water proof grease on the the packing material allowed it to slide 
into the groove; without grease
it would not slide in. The packing material fits into the wider diameter 
of the top piece, shown below.
You are forcing it upward.  Slide the top piece down carefully to force 
in the packing material.
     Cut the packing material diagonally and perfectly. Use the short 
end of the rudder post
that sticks into the cockpit as an anvil of perfect diameter for the 
cut.  You have to remove the fitting
that holds the rudder to expose the top of the post.  Be sure to hold 
the post when you remove the
fitting, it can sink or slide down after you remove the fitting. Wrap 
about 4 rounds around the rudder post
then cut it diagonally into several pieces. The fitting on DC takes 
three pieces. For each piece, place the cut at
a 60 deg. offset from the previous piece in order to isolate any leak of 
each piece.
Don



On 11/22/10 12:34 PM, Les wrote:
> The top is normally above the water line, but the lower end is
> submerged.  As the boat hobby horses, it will pump water up the rudder
> shaft, and it will pulse into the boat around any available leak.
>
> Trust me on that one... We are on a buoy that is only slightly
> protected, and bouncing from wakes, from surge through the breakwater
> and other wave forces gives us a lot of pumping action.  We could
> acquire about 1" of water in the bilge in 3 days from the rudder seepage
> alone after all the other stuff was done.
>
> Regards,
> Les H
>
> On Sat, 2010-11-20 at 23:57 -0700, S Orton wrote:
>> Chuck,  I believe the top of the rudder post is above the waterline
>> when the boat is at rest in the slip, so there should be no leakage
>> from the post.  Now under way with a stern wave, that's a different
>> story.  When I return from a sailing trip I dry the bilge with a towel
>> and it will stay reasonable dry (not over a cup, probably from
>> condensation) if it doesn't rain.  With rain the Rule bilge pump like
>> about two gallons for company.  Also for those who don't have a
>> Spartite plug, I would highly recommend the upgrade, not only from a
>> leakage standpoint, but the resin plug is a structural improvement-
>> giving an "even" lateral support to the mast at the mast collar, vs
>> the point contact force using the wood wedges.
>>
>> Cheers, Steve O (Santa Susanna #304)
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________
> BIGCLIP
>
>
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-- 
Donald R. Strong
Professor
Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
University of California, Davis 95616

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