Freeing stuck rudders on a 46 Roamer

rudder removal

Now "That's a Tuffy".

My 58 alum has steel rudders and shafts - siezed tight. Funny how those little grease zerks go unattended for years.

Not that this is the best way, but it worked for me. About a month of penetrating oil from the top and heat on the tube to help the oil. Banging on the tube also helps. I thought that was just to relieve frustration but an 80 year old machinist told me to do it. The vibration helps the oil travel.

Now - the muscle. I took a loop of sturdy chain about 3 feet long, go around the rudder stock above the rudder. Let the loop hang on the in-board side; place - rather ballance a big hydraulic jack in the loop and place a block of wood on the hull above it (put a steel plate between the jack and wood). Start jacking. Stop when you feel the side torque on the rudder is getting critical. My rudders have 1.25 inch posts, so they'll take a bunch of push. Go back inside and bang on the tube. I would left the stress on the jack for days. It would move just enough to relieve the jack. re-apply pressure.

I also rigged a torsion arm to twist the rudder. Once the jack showed any sign of moving the rudder down I twisted the rudder back and forth - 1/4 inch at first, then more and more. The rotation helped free things up. This was a 2 week project - a little each day.

Even though I have the boat blocked high, I had to dig 8 inch holes below the rudders to get them out. How are you're rudder logs? The bronze ate the aluminum on mine.

If your steering gearbox is bumhoolied, I've got one for ya, vintage 1970.

Well I previously owned a '62 Silver Comet (I know its nothing like a 46' but it was a Roamer) and did complete swapping out the steel rudders. Although they were 'frozen' they looked like an hour glass where the packing was supposed to seal. I replaced them with a brass set (which I had to cut down in profile to match orginals) I picked up from a 36' plywood Chris Catalina (yes the shafts were huge for a 27' boat).

The packing nuts were frozen to the logs and I cut them off flush with about an inch of thread showing. I had a machine shop make a female-on-the-bottom and male-on-the-top threaded tube to replace what was removed (female section on bottom was tapered pipe thread). Oh the joy of it all.

Hi,

You certainly have a toughie on your hands there.

In the pic of the top of the stuffing box it looks like you have tried to get the nuts off with a chisel, they are a lot softer being bronze so this isn't necessarily the best method of attack.

Being Bronze though they will be open to some other forms of gentle persuasion. Take your hammer and give the flat surfaces of the hex section a good work over. This has been used by me many times to loosen barrel unions and the like that were seemingly locked forever. Also try to use a wrench or something that lets you get a good grip of the nut as a whole, even a Vice Grip Chain Wrench would be better that the chisel at this stage.

If you can see if you can get the two nuts separated a bit wind the lower one down as at least then you will know for sure you are only dealing with the one stuck nut, also try to get as much of the rust off the shaft immediately above the nut as possible, this will give the penetrant the best chance to get in and will be one less thing to fight against when unwinding the nut.

There is also an outstanding penetrating oil available from Aircraft supplies places called Mouses Milk. This is the all time best stuff I have ever used. It can loosen manifold nuts.

Good Luck.

As a general tip - vibration is used on large ships to remove stuck parts. This has worked for my purposes so far.
A small unit made for a "vibration table" is a can motor and a steel plug with a hole drilled off center for the shaft.
The off center load causes the unit to shake

This is clamped to the shaft and allowed to vibrate while wd-40 is added where gravity will draw it to the corrosion.

If you want to get fancy you may vary the voltage to the motor. This will help you find the harmonic frequency of the two parts which will help in removal. Good luck!

Be careful of seals, bushings, etc. when doing this.

New SS Rudders

They look great, thanks for the view. I only got to see the 'new' SS rudders on our 46' one month and a half after they splashed down. Shafts and props are the only thing not 'new' below the red stripe in this picture taken a day before bottom cleaning for the trip home:

Stainless Steel Rudders

"It's great to see a sister ship for comparison."

As to the type of SS used, I have no idea. The rudders, shaft logs, stuffing boxes, and all four propeller shaft struts were completely replaced by a boat builder who manufactures 55' custom aluminum motoryachts with a cruising speed of 65 mph. Since I would be not there to witness the work, I researched the company and felt confident in their work in aluminum . They were recommended and subcontracted by the yard owner and repairman who blasted the previous owner's mastic off her bottom, applied the correct sealer, and re-coated same in addition to some major and minor cosmetic work topsides.
I wish that I could answer all your questions accurately, however, when we pull out the dresser to re-cut the MS rug, I shall check the position of the nipples and report back.

When you move the dresser again to inspect the nipples you should consider adding some remote grease fittings so that you can lube the fittings as part of regular maintenance.

Thanks for the suggestion, sounds like a good plan to me.