Rudder port leaking, bolts toast - what to do?

FishFinder · #1 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008

My rudder port is leaking a fair amount when underway, I have found water seeping through the bearing, and it also looks like water was seeping through the bolts that are completely rusted in the picture. I hauled out today and was planning on repacking the bearing and replacing the bolts. But the bolts appear to be built into the fiberglass?? I was expecting to see them come through the bottom of the hull near the rudder, but all I see on the hull bottom is the hole for the rudder post. How do I replace the bolts?? Is there more I should be doing (like replacing the whole rudder port??)

Thanks

sailingdog · #2 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008

I'm assuming that this is on your S2 9.2A... Hopefully, someone with one of these boats can answer your question. Until then, have you tried removing the plate. Until you do, you really won't know what is going on underneath.

The problem looks like it was probably caused by the bolts being STEEL and the plate being BRONZE. If you do fix this, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you use SILICON BRONZE bolts for mounting the hardware, since it will last far longer since it won't be suffering from galvanic corrosion.

Faster · #3 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008

I'd say it's most likely that you do have bolts, but that they have been 'faired' in and/or painted over. You could do some gentle exploratory grinding around the rudder post hole - you may find the bolt or machine screw heads in there...

Obvious candidates for replacement with bolts of more appropriate material.

sasfish · #4 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008

I would check the 12 volt potential first before you replace the plate. Looks like bad wiring.

FishFinder · #5 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008

Hmm exploratory grinding ... this is sounding like a big job. Well here is what the hull looks like around the rudder port. Could I be wrong that the bolts are leaking water if they are encapsulated in the hull??

I haven't tried removing the plate, was hoping not to have to deal with all that unless I really had to.

Faster · #6 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008

Clearly the bolts are not a suitable type for the marine environment, but the rust you see there could well be from the leakage from the gland above rather than seepage past the bolts themselves.

It wouldn't take a lot of water to cause that rusting, esp since you're in salt water.

If the bolts are as I imagine, the heads would not likely be buried deep - just countersunk perhaps enough to provide for a bit of fairing to hide it.

Maybe post this on a dedicated S2 owners' board. Someone may have already been through this.

FishFinder · #7 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008

Yeah, I've had no luck so far finding an s2 9.2 owners forum. I was hoping this was a common situation somebody could chime in on, but it sounds like I'll have to spend some time investigating this further. Maybe I'll just repack the bearing for now and see if the leaks continue before I dive into more work.

Anyways thanks for the help.

Faster · #8 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008

There's an S2 forum here on this site at boatbuilders' row.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/s2/

Don't know how well attended it is, but it's a start. Perhaps if you spot a helpful owner you could send them a PM.

timebandit · #9 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008

I think that that is just a seal mounting plate and is not designed to support the rudder. The bolts just look to small.

I suspect the bolts are welded to a bolt plate and set in the glass just under the mounting plate--on the inside of the boat.

I would remove the seal mounting plate and then drill from the inside of the boat with a small bit to find the bolt plate.

Rick

FishFinder · #10 (**permalink**) 10-06-2008

OK good info that helps a lot, I'll tackle this soon. And thanks for the link to the S2 forum, I was looking all over google without much luck and here it is on sailnet, the best one I've seen so far ...