Rudder Post Leaking

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sep 18, 2009
70
Tartan 37 Classic 24 St Michaels
Seidelmann did use Edson stuffing boxes as shown in Neal's link. The rudder shaft was 304, 2 1/2" Schedule 80 stainless pipe, tolerances on pipe for diameter and ovality are not very tight. Bearings tended to be fairly sloppy. Tides Marine can make much better bearings today than we used back then.
As I recall the stuffing box was epoxied into a pultruded fiberglass tube perhaps that bond failed?
304 stainless tends to be prone to crevice corrosion where water tends to be stagnant like in a rudder stuffing box, when you replace the packing look for pitting on the shaft.
 
May 11, 2005
3,431
Seidelman S37 Slidell, La.
Check the tube

The packing and packing gland on an S37 is above the water line unless under power, or in a rough or following sea. If this is leaking at other times, I would look for a crack in the glass somewhere. Attached you will find a pic of what happened to mine after a hard grounding.
 

Attachments

Status
Not open for further replies.