3000 Express Cabin Leak

[MarkT]

Yep, Tides Marine. Great people to deal with. You have to lower the rudder below the height of the seal. There is not way to hold the rudder to lower it and the height of the rudder port is probably below the waterline allowing a gusher to come in while you try to change a seal. You would be asking for major trouble doing it in the water, if in fact it could be done. BTW, when you take off the rudder collar and the tiller arms, there is nothing stopping the rudder from dropping down!

[MarkT]

Manny, where do you boat?

[Mano]

Thanks MarkT! - understand - the Coral Gables (Miami) area.

[MarkT]

Manny, I was wondering how you made out. I have my rudders out because of another project. As I said I changed my seals two years ago and noticed my shafts had some pitting on them. I cleaned them up today and saw that there is a wear ring all the way around the post. I am going to clean out all the pits and try using some epoxy on them to fill in the ring and pitting. Hope that stops the leak, it is nothing serious just bothers me.

[Mano]

Hi MarkT, the boat is coming out of the water hopefully this Thursday. Pursuit recommended that the rudder seal replacements be done out of the water. The mechanic also did not want to risk it and, quite frankly, neither did I. Should have done them back in August - rrrrr, shame on me...

Be careful what you put in the seals since I believe what caused my leaks was T9 (I sprayed all that area a few months back). After doing some research I found that these seals are supposed to work dry.

Good luck, Manny

[MarkT]

Good luck to you also Manny. I have never sprayed or greased the seals. I have a small ring worn into the rudder post were the seals sit. So I am trying to fill and smooth that out. Better then buying new rudders. BTW, the guys at Pursuit are great. I have my hin ready and get part numbers and manufacturers info from them whenever I need.

[Mano]

MarkT, I finally pulled the boat out and replaced the rudder seals. There was just no way that it could have been done on the water. The mechanic had to force them out and the rudder rods/shafts had to be seriously sanded down and polished since some pitting had occurred. Lets hope I can get at least two years out of them, which I will have to recast the rods or replace them soon.

On the water entering the boat, it appears to be the fish box macerator...water is pouring out from the seal. There is a kit and it should be reasonably easy to replace.

Rgds Manny

[MarkT]

Very good Manny. If you need new rudders I got the part number from Pursuit for my 30 Express 1999. Yours is newer and may be different. It is made by Algonac Castings, #26583
Algonac phone is (810) 794-9391. Talk to Pam. I just took my rudder shafts and cleaned out the pitting around the area the shaft seal goes. I then coated it with epoxy (West System Six10) and sanded down smooth. It filled in the pits nicely. When I install them I will lower them a hair so the seal rides on new metal. I have done a lot of work on this boat over the past few years and I just this winter epoxied in new fiberglass shaft logs, installed drive savers between the couplings and put in new shaft seals and seal carriers from Tides Marine. Let me know if I can help with any info.
Mark

[joeshoes]

I just bought my Express 3000 last summer and I saw that the shafts were leaking. I bought new rudders and shafts (one unit) because of the pitting on the rudder shaft.

Pretty expensive.

[MarkT]

I epoxied those pits with West Systems Six10 epoxy and so far so good. What did those rudders cost? I also just did the shaft seals, Tides Marine gave me a half price deal to replace the entire unit since I had the old style. I also put in drive savers. The boat is very smooth now. Where are you located?