[Public-List] Rudder Stuffing Box Repair

[Michael Connolly via Public-List]

John, 
You have given me pause to ponder your situation again.  I have actually used thread gauges to clean out crudded up threads.  If the threads are not too bad it might just work. The nut would be far more difficult. 
  
Another thought, on my boat, underneath the tiller head fitting there is a bronze flanged bushing which is fastened to the truncated cone on the cockpit sole with three oval headed screws. This is the upper bearing for the rudder stock. I have never removed this bushing but the flange has got to be 3" in diameter and I am guessing that the outside diameter of the bushing is 1" plus 1/8" plus 1/8" for the bushing wall thickness. Which means that the hole in the fiberglass is at least 1-1/4" in diameter. I wonder if the packing nut could be worked up through this hole?  One might have to file the hole in the fiberglass to a hexagonal shape to slip the nut through. This I would hope leave enough fiberglass material to refasten the flanged bushing. 
  
Good luck with your repair. I am sure that we can all learn from what you discover during the fix. 
Michael 

----- Original Message -----

From: "John Johnston" < danceswithwood at earthlink.net > 
To: "Connolly, Michael" < crufone at comcast.net > 
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 2:05:01 PM 
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Rudder stuffing box 

I meant to write "thread gauges", not file gauges, on previous post- 


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