So rudder successfully dropped and transported home. New rudder ordered from Foss Foam in Florida.
Takeaways (after digging a big hole under the rudder):
1. Once the quadrant/radial wheel was completely removed, only the upper “donut” Delrin bearing held the rudder in the boat.
2. With a friend, I ran a piece of 7/16” line from one side side of the stern (bowline through the mooring line gate), under the rudder, up to a snatch block on the other side, and then over to the primary winch in the cockpit. Had to mess with the length of the strop as hung from the stern push pit in order to get the angle from the snatch block to the winch just right.
3. Friend winched in the line which forced the rudder “up” slightly, allowing removal of the Delrin donut. Very easy.
4. We then assumed the rudder would drop cleanly if we then eased the line under the rudder. Didn’t happen. The rudder “stuffing box” turned with the rudder shaft and wouldn’t let go. My “stuffing box” does not look like the normal 3 bolt Edson-type into which you insert packing. Mine is a bronze 4 bolt affair that doesn’t seem to have packing of any kind. The two halves of the contraption were tightened down such that the whole “stuffing box” was rotating inside the rubber hose coming up from the lower bearing. There was no hose clamp at the the top of the rubber hose securing the lower portion of the “box”. Alarming, but I had a rudder to drop.
5. Applied some PB blaster at the interface of the “box” and the rudder shaft. A few taps with a hammer on the “box” and repeat. Still stubborn.
6. Removed the 4 bolts holding the two halves of the “box” together. Gently tapped a steel putty knife around the seam until I had separation of the 2 halves. Then I went below and twisted the rudder back and forth while my buddy eased the line a little. At first nothing. Then with a little more twisting the rudder started to slowly drop. In retrospect I could have tried tapping the stuffing box upward on the post after separating the two halves, but I had a general aversion to tapping too much on the bronze for fear of deforming it in some way. But the slow twisting of the rudder with its weight against the hose allowed the two halves of the “box” to slowly ride up the shaft and the rudder to slowly drop.
I’m going to try to figure out if there is a better solution to sealing off the rudder post where it exits the rubber hose on top of the “volcano”/lower rudder bearing. I can’t seem to find any proper 2.5” rudder stuffing boxes—like the Edsons—which are low profile enough to fit underneath the steering radial. Maybe, upon replacement, the new rudder post will rotate freely in the old “stuffing box” and I can get a hose clamp on the top end of the hose up from the lower bearing. But I have my doubts.
Any 37C owners out there who have solved this problem?
