rudder stock: mounting/seals/et al

vas

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good evening,

preparing the lazarete for painting after many hours of paint stripping I had a go at removing the M8 countersunk SS bolts holding the bronze (I assume) lower rudder stock assembly.
Port side was fine, stbrd not so fine :rolleyes:

rudderstock_1.jpg


rudderstock_2.jpg


I'd notice some water seeping in from the hull/rudder stock joint on stbrd side when she was launched 3yrs ago and this explains...

Anyway, got new SS countersunk alen key heads and I'm going to fit them tomorrow and here's my first Q:

HOW do I seal the countersunk bolt/rudder stock joint?
A blob of sika 291 (or 292) or two are good enough?
Any other way? Looked like they'd used some sort of matting similar to what plumbers used in the pre-Teflon era.

Since I'm at this level, any point in removing the rudders altogether? After almost 40yrs (assuming seals haven't been changed ever) should I undo the big nut and pull (or most likely drop) the rudders down for inspection?
The assembly (ok, not very clean at the moment, just scrapped lots of paint all over, haven't sanded or wirebrushed it yet) looks like this:

rudderstock_3.jpg


rudderstock_4.jpg


Yes, I know since I'm at this stage, I might as well, but I don't know if they have bearings/seals or what. Seems that the top of the assembly is above w/l (may be wrong on that) so I wonder where and how they seal.


Seriously also considering the p-bracket bolts as well (although there were no leaks from there) but they are M12 and only one out of 12 (6 on each side) seems to be interested in moving. Wonder if they are original items from 1975, although i'd expect they were changed/repositioned with the re-engine 15yrs ago or so. Will heat them up tomorrow and see if I can get them moving.

I'll report soon on the main thread, but really need to know what to do with these rudder stock!

cheers

V.
 
HOW do I seal the countersunk bolt/rudder stock joint?
A blob of sika 291 (or 292) or two are good enough?
Any other way? Looked like they'd used some sort of matting similar to what plumbers used in the pre-Teflon era.

I know its more PBO q, but Ive never actually posted there...

To perplex things a bit more, one every six bolts is bonding the metal to the anodes which means that it cannot be el. Isolated from the pbracket. Will do abit more reading as metal, antifoul for metal restrictions and bonding dont quie make sense engineerwiseto me. Will come back on that.

Still and ideas on sealing through bolts would be appreciated

Cheers

V
 
We used sikaflex on our anode bolts. Not to sure re the stainless bolts though, anode bolts are usually mild steel galvanized., and if they were s/s how come they rusted up like that? AHA just reread the post maybe 40 years answers my query. Sorry
 
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