Rudder Stuffing Box

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  • #6771
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi all,

    Has anyone had to stuff the stuffing box on the rudder? I seem to have a
    fair amount of water trickling out around the top of the rudder shaft!!!
    Any ideas on How to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.

    Steve aboard RUBYS RASCAL hull 113

    #14521
    Ronar M
    Participant

    Hi Steve

    I have the same problem with Ronar M. I have undone the top of the stuffing box but still can’t get at the relevant bit because there is a sleeve on the rudder shaft which prevents the top of the box coming up high enough. I have tried screwing the top down tighter and this seems to have helped but not eliminated the problem altogether. I too would like some advice

    Cheers, Trevor

    #14531
    Van
    Participant

    The previous owner of Rainshadow had the same problem and the only solution he had was to cut the sleeve off (a non-trivial task) to be able to lift the upper section of the box high enough to be able to get to the stuffing material.

    In our recent rudder rebuild, we had Port Townsend Foundry make a coupler (like you might have on a prop shaft) to replace the sleeve. Much shorter hopefully solving the problem.

    Details at http://svrainshadow.com/?p=1144

    Van

    #14551
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi Van,

    Thanks for the information sorry about the delay in replying work commitments etc, I am not going to tackle this problem till March when RUBYS RASCAL is out of the water for antifouling, after reading your “Rebuilding the rudder” article I feel confident that i should be able to fix the problem, what packing material should i use?
    thanks Van

    best regards Steve aboard RUBYS RASCAL

    #14581
    Van
    Participant

    Hi Steve,

    I used the same stuffing material that is used in the prop shaft stuffing box. 5/16″ teflon flax made by Western Pacific Trading. I believe I bought 2 feet at a cost of around $5. I think it made about six loops to fit around the rudder shaft, and I used five of them in the stuffing box.

    Hope that helps!

    Van

    #14601
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi Van,
    Thank you very much for the information, this forum and website has been a real godsend for me. 🙂

    best regards Steve
    aboard RUBYS RASCAL

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