Sterntube Woes

[hebdena]

Hi all,

For a while I have had a slight leak from around my sterntube on my Rival 31.
Now that I am out of the water for the winter I am tackling this problem. I have removed all the hardware and the sterntube itself. The outer bearing cap was not sealed hence the leak and the inner cap was loose as the screws securing it to the hull were loose and had crumbled at the touch of a screwdriver, hence the leak.
There is a void space where the sterntube passes through and this appears to have been filled with some sort of foam. This had turned to a very soggy mush which I have been able to remove the bulk of with my VAX vacuum cleaner.
My question is : should I replace the foam and what with? or should I leave it as is?
I am going to leave the void space to dry out for a few months before I do anything.
Another question: I need to replace the screws that secure the inner bearing cap. The original were brass or bronze which had deteriorated very badly over time. Should I replace them with stainless steel screws? (brass bearing cap) or should I stick to the original material and what would that have been, bronze of brass?
Last question: where can I get the screws from?

Thanks in anticipation...............Andrew

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[Gordonmc]

Apologies if this does not apply to glassfibre boats, but the traditional void filler for sterntubes is neat white lead paste.
Its quite difficult to drive in. I used a home made applicator working on the same principle as a grease gun. There may be some form of closed cell foam you could use, but as this is probably the stuff that failed, it may not be adviseable.
Don't use SS screws. Stainless only holds up if exposed to air to form a micron thick layer of oxydation to protect it. Use bronze. Try www.classicmarine.co.uk

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[dickh]

Regarding the replacement screws, do NOT use Manganese Bronze! It is only a high quality Brass and will still corrode. Use a proper bronze like gunmetal or similar. See Classic marine as previous poster suggests.

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I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Seapepper]

Rival 31...not many of those around. I wonder if yours is the one that I used to sail on that had the same problem way back in 1975? Rival of Roxby. We chewed our way into the void and cleared all the foam out that we could get at and tightened up all the fastenings as far as I can remember. It was a bit of a rushed job because we dried her out on a sandbank and she settled precariously bolt upright. She eventually toppled in slow motion and we completed the job as fast as we could with an incoming tide. I don't think we had any more problems in that department, but I lost contact with her in about '78 or 9

Regards, John

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