Catalina 34

General Activities => Main Message Board => Topic started by: gwp on November 19, 2010, 10:23:19 AM

Title: leak under emergency tiller head
Post by: gwp on November 19, 2010, 10:23:19 AM
Any ideas to prevent rainwater from coming in around tiller head and down rudder post?  Had same problem with c30 years ago and never did completely stop. Thinking of building a caulk bead "dam" to direct water away from post. Constant drip into steering quadrant. I bet everyone's leaks to some extent. Ideas appreciated.
Title: Re: leak under emergency tiller head
Post by: Ron Hill on November 19, 2010, 01:21:07 PM
gwp : If you remove the tiller cap and put some heavy grease under the nylon bushing - the weight of the cap+rudder pressing against that bushing, should stop/slow down any rain water. 

Just out of curiosity, how have you determined that the rainwater is coming in there?  You just might have a high leak in your aft water tank.  A thought
Title: Re: leak under emergency tiller head
Post by: gwp on November 20, 2010, 02:08:57 PM
Ron....thx for an idea I'd never thought of. I had the fbgls inspection plate removed from the upper aft bulkhead of the aft berth. Looking thru this hole I could see constant drip into steering quadrant.
Title: Re: leak under emergency tiller head
Post by: Ken Juul on November 22, 2010, 09:18:09 AM
The emergency tiller set up on the walk thru transoms is totally different so this is just a guess.  I can't tell from pictures on YW the exact set up.  Does the collar under the top fitting turn with the rudder or is it hard mounted?  If hard mounted, it sounds like the sealant applied at the factory has failed and the collar needs to be rebedded.
Title: Re: leak under emergency tiller head
Post by: gwp on November 22, 2010, 11:54:02 AM
Rudder was recently removed and I applied no bedding compound to collar. There was none prior to removal?? I do now see the need to bed and I will do so. However it seems that it would still leak between collar and tiller head. Thx!