Emergency stearing

[Jim "SV Ohana"]

In getting Ohana ready for our upcoming cruise thought I'd pop off the plate on top of the rudder to make sure the emergency stearing gear would fit and also that the plate would come off without trouble.
found that the rudder shaft was filled all the way to the top with high density foam.  Now my boat is 12 years old and I have no way of knowing when or why this was done.  Anyway I spent a couple hours chipping foam away, so the stearing gear would fit.
Anyone run into this before????
Jim

[Roc]

A MkI owner could probably better answer this, but from what I remember, MkI rudder posts tend to fill with water and then freeze during the winter.  Catalina probably found out about this issue, and on my MkII (2000), I noticed that my rudder post is filled with expandable foam from the factory.  In your case, maybe the PO filled it with foam so no water would collect in the rudder tube.

Roc-

[Norris Johnson]

Jim, I had no problem with my rudder post, but I do have an unrelated question.

I also have a Boston Whaler squall with oars, sail, and rudder. My problem is the boat weighs about 260 lbs. As you probably know, it should weigh 130 lbs. It handles good, but hard to get in and out of the water. I figure there's about 15 gals of water in the hull. Don't know how it got there or how to get it out without drilling holes in the boat. Do you have any ideas?
Thanks,
N

[Jim "SV Ohana"]

On my rudder post, it looked like a factory job with the foam.

On the squal, yes, mine is also very heavy, also sold it yesterday.
Think I would first remove the cap/rub rail and see if water comes out there (with the boat turned over) the bad part is some of the foam used for flotation WILL absorbe water if it is breached (meaning, the foam when it cures forms a skin, if the skin is breached by cuting to fit of whatever, it will soak up water) The squal is full of this foam. My next move would be a couple 1 inch holes in the deck into the voids to see what's really going on.
Good luck
Jim

[Norris Johnson]

Jim, thanks for the response. I'll try removing the rub rail. I've had a 17 whaler for 30 years and I wasn't aware of the "skin breaching" being a problem. Good point.

[Mark Wey]

Ron: Right you are, about the rusting metal grid. I soda blasted my bottom last fall as well as the rudder. I had a few blisters on the rudder but not on the hull. When I gouged them out I managed to break right through to the void in the rudder. I drained at least 1.5 gallons of water and it was definately a rusty colour. Even after it was all drained out ( I thought) I still have rust stains under the numerous holes I drilled. To make sure I removed all of the water. I just kept drilling holes working my way down until I reached solid material, where there was no void in the rudder. I will now proceed to fill the void as described by a previous post. Do a search for (rudder) there are at least 6 different experiences to learn from. It will have had at least 6 months to dry before the weather allows final repairs. Should be no problem.
One twist though Ron. What do you think of forcing the epoxy in from the bottom hole that I drilled and taping the rest of the holes shut so that any excess comes out the top of the rudder post. By doing it this way there will certainly be a resistance built up and this resistance should also help to fill all the small voids with in the rudder. It would also make for a very easy fibreglass job as all of the holes are filled with epoxy.

Jim I would consider drilling a couple holes in the rudder even if it was foam filled. There are different kinds of foam. Some will absorb moisture and some will not. Even if you do not have any water weeping from the hole you drill. Collect the filings and try and discern whether it is dry or not, and also what colour is it. Rust coloured or not.  You have a 1991 and I think Ron's post said the change to stainless came in 1990.Not a lot of work for peace of mind.

Just a few thoughts.

Mark