Trojan Boat Forum

Well i'm 6 days away from towing my 1981 f308 from utah to new york. I have a little extra time now do to travel restrictions , so i want to put it to good use. My rutters at the hull are leaking, not alot but enough to bother me alot. Is it possible that it only needs some 5200 wear wood meets fib hull or do you think its some kind of seals inside the rutter shafts. 5200 i can do, seals may have to wait unless its an easy repair.
as usual any help will be appreaciated. thanks Gary Ga

Gary it could be where the rudder box meets the hull , but most likely it leaking at the rudder shaft "the seals" on the shaft is packing Just like the prop shafts

The rudder packings on my F-32 were leaking like crazy with a steady flow from both of them and all I did was tighten the packing nuts until it slowed to a drip then ran it for a while and retightened them to a complete stop and they are fine. Since they don't spin fast they don't need a cooling/lubricating drip.

WOWZER52, Thanks for the information, o yea are the packing nuts the 4 bolts holding the plate to hull in place or are they nuts that will be down in the rutter shafts where seals might also be. ?? ok so now you all now how novice i am at fixing my boat. Y ou see this is my retirement project and ive never done anthing like this before, i am determined to keep working at it and to learn. this forum is by far my favorite so far.


thanks for the support Gary Ga

The packing nut is on the rudder shaft, one large nut on top and a thinner nut under it for locking the packing nut in place once it is adjusted. Loosen the lock nut and run it down several threads to get it out of the way then tighten the upper packing nut until it stops leaking then bring the lock nut back up against the packing nut to lock it in place, move the steering back and forth several times and check for leaks again. When the boat runs through the water it puts pressure on the rudder and shaft and may allow more leaking. Keep checking and retightening until it stops completely. this could take several times but eventually the packing will settle in. West Marine sells packing wrenches or I've found that old fashioned smooth jaw monkey wrenches work well. And remember, we all had to learn from someone.

Thanks Wowzer52 I will hope to give this a try, before i put her back into the water, when I reach NY> The adventure begins in 3 days.

Gary Ga

Any one know the size of the rudder shaft on an 1977 F32 or the size of the packing that goes into the packing nut am planing to replace mine
thanks Eddie-O

dont know on a F-32. Its 1 1/4 on an F-36 Goto http://www.deepblueyachtsupply.com, ask them what the model number is for a replacement rudder, then look it up in their catalog, gives you all the specs of the rudder.

Speaking of packing nuts. Here's a tip that works really well and fast for me. Some of you may already know it.

I take a hammer and sharply hit the corners of the locking nut. This shock, loosens the nut so you can turn it by hand.
Doesn't matter how tight it's on, it'll come loose in one or two hits.

Better than bruise knuckles trying to contort down there with two wrenches...

Stripermann2 - that tip helped a lot!

I haven't had to tighten my rudder seals in a while (the dreaded knuckle buster), and looked here for a shortcut ....

2 or 3 taps, and the Packing Nut turned fairly easily! I pulled it off, added some 3/16" flax packing (about 2 wraps), and tightend it back down and have no leaks.

My Locking Nut is stuck down so low that I can't get a wrench on it ... so I'm going to think about it a bit ... any ideas?


Click for large picture ... http://www.RNR-MARINE.com/Trojan/Viva-M ... 9jul26.JPG

Rosjo that rudder looks bad

check to make sure it is not the backing rudder plate too...... i had my rudders repacked in june, and the port rudder assembly kept leaking after she was relaunched. it was only after a rehaul (at the yards expense)did the mechanic discover the metal plate the port rudder tube is attached to was actually waved from impact damage by the previous owner. paul, if you can post the pics i sent you a while back, that might help. anyway, the entire assembly along with a new wooden plate was installed and i have not had any issues thus far. this is yet another item my PUTZ of a surveyor 'glossed' over or did not notice. upon further inspection, we found out that the rudder tube was 'patched' with marine tex. you could actually see the crack in the tube when the rudder was removed.

Not leaking now ... and I agree its not pretty, but it feels solid.

My immediate "issue" is that I can get a wrench down past the bolts to raise the Locking Nut, now that I've repacked the seal and the Packing Nut is much higher.

Not leaking now ... and I agree its not pretty, but it feels solid.

My immediate "issue" is that I can't get a wrench down past the bolts to raise the Locking Nut, now that I've repacked the seal and the Packing Nut is much higher.