Rudder Packing

[jackryan]

We built the ruder shelves out of 2 sections of 5/8 Coosa as Capt. Patrick suggests in his building tips section and they turned out beautiful. My brother is at the boat right now cutting Coosa to fabricate supports for the mufflers.

We are getting ready to reinstall the rudders and we are looking for any hints/assistance on this task. What kind and size of packing should we use for this? Anything else we should know before we put the rudders back in place?

Thanks again for all of the help.

JR

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Jack - use only the old fashioned hemp or flax packing on the rudders. The teflon or GoreTex packing is for high speed applications and will never seat properly. Use about 4 or 5 wraps of a size packing that will pack down into the rudder port when you tighten up the nut.

UV

[CaptPatrick]

Packing size is 1/4"

[jackryan]

My brother picked up 1/4" teflon impregnated flax packing. Will this work?

Thanks,

JR

[CaptPatrick]

Jack,

NO... The teflon packing will not get a seal. You need plain flax packing. You might be able to find flax with graphite at a good hardware store, but no Teflon or Goretex.

[jackryan]

Thanks Capt. Patrick,

Here's one of the pictures I posted of the rudder through hull:

http://haulout.shutterfly.com/26

We cleaned out all of the old caulk at the base of the rudder through hull and I was wondering what kind of caulk/material is recommended to fill this space. The hole in the hull had to be drilled larger than the through hull to accommodate the two bolts on the through hull.

Thanks,

JR

[CaptPatrick]

I'd use 5200 since this is something that will probably not be removed again for many years to come. Replace the whole rudder backing pad while you're at it and use a two part replacement pad that will cover any excess opening of the hole in the hull.

[jackryan]

Capt. Patrick,

I don't recall seeing a rudder backing pad when taking the rudder off. Maybe it disintegrated over the years. Is a rudder backing pad something I fabricate myself, or something I can buy? What kind of material is it made of? Do I place the pad in first, then cover it with 5200.

Thanks for bearing with all of the questions,

JR

[CaptPatrick]

I'm surprised by the absence of a backing pad on your boat... The necessity of the pad, (bedded and glassed on to hull), is to increase the thickness of the hull at this critical point and to, as greatly as possible, spread any shock loading over a larger portion of the hull.

The pad, as Bertram built them, was 3/4" marine plywood, polyester puttied down and glassed over lightly. As I build them, either plywood or Coosa board, epoxied down and a heavier biaxle glass over the pad. Same as I do for strut backing. (see: Classic Bertram Strut Problem)

The first diagram, being 2 part, allows you to close the gaps to a minimum around the rudder port as it comes up through the hull.

[Tony Meola]

Capt. Pat

My 75 didn't have the backing pad either. It was never there. We have owned the boat since it was new and never had pull the rudders until we did the repower so I know it was never played with.

[jackryan]

Capt. Patrick,

Went out to the boat today and found out that a previous owner added a large backing pad that goes from the rudder to the strut. Here is a picture of it along with some pictures of the Coosa Board rudder shelves:

http://haulout.shutterfly.com/41

For some reason the pic of the rudder/strut backing pad will not enlarge when you click on it. The best way to view the pictures is to select slideshow on the right side of the page. I'll add a few more pics once I finish up the rudder shelves.

JR