I noticed the water creeping out of the top ofthe hose.the hose seems to be perishing. Can the hose be changed in the water
Hi:
Looking again at the picture you included with your opening post:
- The hose/tubing really doesn't have the appearance of failing;
- The hose clamps however don't look right = not fully tightened. And the lower of the two in the picture appears not to be tightened much at all. And also appears to miss the underlying piece that it should be tightening against.
So as a suggestion before you think about replacing the hose, are you sure that the hose clamps are tightened real good? And they are positioned correctly? I can't see from your picture if you have two clamps on the top (= cinching around the packing gland brass assembly) and two clamps on the bottom (= cinching around the hull's FRP rudder post extrusion). My Hunter Cherubini 36 has a total of four clamps. Certainly if you have the room, you also should have total of four clamps.
I did manage to find a better pic of my rudder tube area which I have attached. The appearance of the actual rubber hose/tube on mine looks a lot more suspect than yours! But also note that my clamps visibly are compressing the hose. Yours look very loose in comparison.
But if you do need to replace the hose and want to do it in the water: On my boat, I think would be possible and it is something that I myself would attempt. Just sitting at berth, the water level is way below the top of the hull's rudder tube extrusion. So water flooding shouldn't be an issue.
My thoughts are: Firstly, hang a line (or two would be safer) so that the lines loops underneath the rudder. Tie each end on the port and starboard say along the toe rail. Adjust the length so that when you start releasing the post from its restraints and the quadrant, the rudder post can't slip down through the tube and fall out to the bottom. But adjust the lines so the top of the SS post is just low enough to remove the old tube and install a new one. (On this, I remember asking on SBO once if a rudder will sink and the general response was yes. So that is why I think it prudent to rig lines to restrain the rudder from sliding out.) From that point on, I can't see that replacing the hose in the water would be any different from on-the-hard. Might actually be easier/cheaper since on-the-hard, you might need to hire the yard's boat hoist to raise the boat enough that the rudder can be dropped enough to slip a new tube on. I do suggest, however you ascertain for yourself about my thoughts above.
An issue might be later raising the rudder back up. Any binding of the post in the tube might make this difficult. On land one could jiggle it back-and-forth with the assistance of a lever bar against the ground underneath to add the "up force."
So think it through. The Ask-All-Sailor's forum might get you a wider audience and opinions.
