Hi Patrick.....I had some leakage from the rudder thru a crack in the forward edge. I had the yard clean it up and epoxy some cloth over it and GFlex around the tube entry. Still getting some leakage into the rudder. SO, my solution is to remove the rudder every year and keep it in my garage so it won't freeze...ever. I lean it up on an angle and it drips a bit...maybe a half cut or so....but I feel better. Getting pretty good at removing and reinstalling it...a PITA but do-able with my wife and I...except for putting it back in. I do tie a rope sling around the rudder with a loop around the bottom to be able to firmly hold onto the rudder...it is not too easy to hold onto by itself. Luckily sailors are a helpful bunch and a couple of them are usually around to assist for 10 minutes or so to align the quadrant and get the top nut started. Look out for the 'key' in the rudder shaft! Mine drops out. ALSO, I found a round red scotchbright type drill attachment that I use with 2 18" extensions to clean out the shaft tube wetted down with kerosene to loosen any contaminents. For grease I just use a waterproof bearing grease....quite a bit of it...as it gets changed annually I am not too picky. No more worries about a $5k bill! The top nut....I use a pipe wrench..it will not spin off no matter how much lube I use. So, I wrap it in Gorilla Tape for protection from the pipe wrench...that seems to work pretty well. I tried using some hose around the top nut by it just slipped. I didn't want to chance creating a problem with the set screws by using them as grips for the pipe wrench. $0.02 Spencer Johnson '84 LF38 #165 "Alegria" Waukegan, IL/Racine, WI
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