Rudder Port Removal

[JohnV8r]

Hey Guys,

Rudders are out.

Rudder shelf is out.

I'm working on removing the rudder ports. All hardware has been removed from the inside hull side. Bolts have been removed and everything is loose. However, I cannot get the top and bottom pieces of the rudder port separated.

Any tricks to getting them apart?

Thanks!

[Tony Meola]

John

It might just be sealant. Take puttyknife and work it around the edges.

Don't worry about the shimd they are probably shot anyway. I had tomake new ones for mine.

[JohnV8r]

Thanks Tony! You were right.

The thing that threw me was High Tide Marine's replacement rudder post is a two piece design that has a top and bottom sleeve that slide together from the inside/outside of the hull. When you look at my rudder post below, the glob of sealant made it look like it was just excess from the installation of the same design as High Tide sells.



After reading you post, I pushed the rudder post down and looked at the bottom of the hull. That was the first time I could see the cutout shape as the sealant was flush with the bottom of the hull. So the rudder post is one piece, not two and the cutout shape is this:



Hope that helps the next person.

Thanks again Tony!

[Tony Meola]

John

I don't have a picture of mine, but it looks like yours has Mickey Mouse ears. Mine was just the round hole with a similar bolt pattern to yours.

Do you need new shims? Easy to make. I went to the Container store, they sell a round tin that is 6 inches inside diameter. That was the perfect size for my shim. I made shure the tin sat on a level surface raised one side by 3/8 inch and then used slow setting west system epoxy. Took me about 3 tries to get it right. I made the thin edge (outboard edge about 1/16 thick. If you put a line in the tin that is 1/16 high up the side, and pour to that line, with the one edge raised 3/8 of an inch, bingo, it shims it perfectly.

I was lucky since the thick side of the original shim was intact so I used that shim to raise up the one side of the tin.

Good luck.