Water comming up through the rudder post

[egle01]

I have a 1987 Catalina 30. During my recent trip I noticed allot of water coming in from the top of my rudder post. My bilge kept up with the water but during my 3 hour trip home today my bilge was on about 2 1/2 hours of that. It doesn't leak when the boat is just sitting still so it's not a large problem but needs fixed.

This is a project I have never done before and I'm looking for a website that may have detailed instructions on how to repack the rudder to stop this from happening. Or any other Catalina 30 owner that has experience in this.

Thanks,
Todd

[bwindrope]

I can't speak specifically about your Catalina, but I had the identical problem on my Gulf 32 and found the repair easy. The stuffing on my boat had actually been undersized by the PO and when I removed it I found out why it had been leaking. My boat takes 3/8 stuffing, I think, and is held down by a simple GRP plate and four bolts. Really, it is a 20 minute job.

Mine also only gave me trouble when motoring because it takes the force of the stern wave to push water up the shaft column.

Good luck finding a website on it. I did mine before I started my blog and so don't have any pictures.

[Rockter]

egle...
Can you send us a picture?
As long as it is coming past the packing gland it should be easy to fix.

[egle01]

So far, the research I have found tells me that this should be an easy fix. I thought there was a web page out there on everything imaginable. But I never did find one on this. Thanks bwindrope. I am going to try and tackle this on Saturday.