Rudder Shaft Tube

[Triton106]

I was filling several holes in the poop deck so I had to crawl under the cockpit hatch to seal the holes from below. Anyway, as I was doing that I noticed that a little puddle of water (not that much but enough to cause me concerns) was collected under the rudder shaft tube. As I used my fingers to feel aournd the tube I can see and feel where the water is coming from. It is coming from where the fiberglass wraps around the bronze tube (I am pretty sure it is bronze judging by the unmistakeble green corrosion). I wish I had a camera with me so I can take some pictures. Anyway, the fiberglass to bronze tube joint seem to be strongly built although I am not so sure if filberglass bond well to bronze. So here are my questions: (1) how do I fix the leak? Do I need to take bronze tube entirely out of the boat and re-glass it? (2) does anyone else have bronze rudder tubes? I just noticed that Tim's daysailor had fiberglass rudder tube (see pictures below). I don't know if that is another difference between east and west coast Tritons (mine is west coast).



Your thoughts and experiences will be much appreciated.

Best regards,

[Triton106]

I may have found the answer to my problem. I found this excerpt in from Allan Vaitses' book "Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual".



Questions still remain though. Should I take the bronze tube out first before attempting the repair that the book recommended? Otherwise it will be difficult to do a good job sealing where the metal tube exit the hull. I don't remember west coast Tritons have metal collar the last time I haul it out. However, if I take the bronze tube out would I not be better off just replace it with a fiberglass tube? What do I use as the sealing material? I would appreciate anyone who has done it to provide me with some advice here.

Thanks and best regards,

[Tim]

Epoxy resin will stick to properly-prepared metals, including bronze. It's not an ideal bond, but sometimes you have to work with the cards you're dealt. In any event, epoxy will stick far better than the polyester that likely secures the existing tabbing.

The key, as always, is to properly prepare the bonding surface--clean, dry, bright, roughed-up metal. An earlier post on preparing lead keels garnered a response that West System even recommends sanding an initial coat of epoxy into the metal--that is, sand the metal, apply epoxy resin, and sand it in, of sorts. I guess the idea is to force the resin as deeply into the sanding scratches as possible. This will be a fun chore in the confines of the space beneath your cockpit, but unfortunately that's probably what you're facing.

Fully encapsulating the metal stern tube as suggested in the article you posted could be a good long-term solution. Still, the main bonds required are between the hull and the tube, and between the cockpit and the tube. So ensure that those are good and strong first, then go ahead and cover the area in between as suggested, if you like.

Good luck. It's a basically easy process made difficult by the poor access you're sure to face.