Packing the Rudder Shaft??

[zinbaad]

After extensive survey one of the issues was to Repack the rudder shaft. Just wondering if this is one of the jobs I might be able to do myself. Any tips would be muck welcome

[Denis]

I re-packed my rudder shaft last spring, it was a piece of cake. My rudder required 3 pieces of 3/8" packing. Just remove the bolts that hold the rudder arm in place. Remove the large nut and pull out the three pieces of old packing. Cut the new pieces to the same length and put them in, just make sure that the joints do not line up, put the ends at opposite sides. Reinstall the nut and snug it down. It may be necessary to readjust after it goes in the water to stop the leaks. It took me about 30 minutes. D

[zinbaad]

Thanks Denis,
As we all you know anything we can learn to do by our serves can sometimes save a bunch of bucks to get out and enjoy the water just a bit more. Sounds like one of those jobs I could handle. Thanks

[TD]

Did you do this in the water? How did you hold the SS rudder shaft from dropping down? Did yours look like the pictures I have attached? It appears that the first step is to block up the rudder under the boat, remove the the steering arm attached to steering rod, loosen setscrew bolt on collar and remove from shaft, unscrew large top nut with sleeve attached. The packing is either in the nut with sleeve removed or remains on the shaft inside the lower nut. Does anyone know if this is correct? I am assuming that the collar with setscrew is what holds the rudder shaft in place.
Thank you,
Terry

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