Posted by jsforgey (jsforgey@…>)
Last week we were sitting on the back of our Freedom 32 (Hoyt) and
notice the bilge pump running. I thought, that is odd…It never runs.
Then a few hours later it ran again.
I sprung into action and hunted down the lead. It was from the back of
the boat somewhere. I took the wood down in aft cabin but no leak.
Then the kids came back and sat on the back of the boat and…voila!
Leak!
It seems the water comes through the bearing packing on the rudder post
at the thru hull. The bolts were rusty, gnarly and need of replacement.
I have never run across a schematic of the rudder post or the rudder
bearing. Do I need to pull the boat to re-pack the bearing stuffing?
Has anyone done this?
Is this worse than I know? Easy or hard?
Please help!
Scott
s/v Girlfriend
Freedom 32 (Hoyt) #85
Posted by rick_simonds (rick_simonds@…>)
— In FreedomOwnersGroup@yahoogroups.com, “jsforgey” <jsforgey@…>
wrote:
Last week we were sitting on the back of our Freedom 32 (Hoyt) and
notice the bilge pump running…
… Do I need to pull the boat to re-pack the bearing stuffing?
Is this worse than I know? Easy or hard?
Easy.
You don’t need to pull the boat but get the people out of the cockpit
while you do this to insure that the rudder shaft tube is above the
waterline. The rudder shaft tube has standard flax packing in it,
like a propeller shaft.
Undo all the bolts around the rudder shaft and lift the top part.
Temporarily wire it up out of the way. There are (from memory) 2
rings of (again, from memory) 1/2" packing, each about a foot long,
around the rudder shaft. Yours might be entirely gone, mine were gone
the first time if did it, after having exactly the same bilge pump
experience that you describe. Pull any old packing out. Cut the new
packing to length and put it in. Put a fair amount of waterproof
grease around it as you put it in. (The auto parts store has a
little “needle” thing that fits a grease gun, it looks something like
the needle that you use to pump air into basketballs and footballs.
That is a cheap and perfect tool for this job.)
Bolt it all back together. The only real trick to this job is exactly
how tight to make the bolts. Put all the people back in the cockpit.
If it still leaks more than just a little weeping, the bolts need to
be tighter. If you feel any drag at all as you turn the wheel, the
bolts are too tight. My SWAG is “very snug but not very tight”, maybe
about 10-ish foot pounds of torque per bolt.
Shoot some more grease into the fittings and replace the woodwork.
You’re done.
Rick
Tallahassee
Posted by jsforgey@… (jsforgey@…)
Great!
Thank you so much!
I had visions of yard bills and a week of arranging and work.
I will get this done right away.
By the way, in looking up at the bearing above it looks like there is some rubber nipple that could be for greasing the bearing. If so, what type of grease and nozzle does one need to grease this thing?
Thanks
Scott
Girlfriend
F-32 HoytGet a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
Posted by jsforgey@… (jsforgey@…)
Wow…thanks.
I am going to tackle this all since I have the aft cabin wood down already.
I can’t wait to get back from my consulting gig here in Atlanta. I just hope it gets a bit cooler next week in South Florida…these repairs are not only a PITA, buy remarkably hot!
Thank you for all the info. I will post a few pictures in the event anyone else must tackle this.
Scott
Girlfriend
Freedom 32 (Hoyt)Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.