Ah, the Spanish orca reference. Got it, though it took me a while. We happened upon a pod that over took us near Whidbey Island a couple summers ago. This was before we had heard of the rudders being ripped off. OK.
Still working on the HXs, I am not ignoring y'all. (One day I may start a thread of how many things never should have been built like this....)
As to the factory hole in the rudder, I am still looking for it. Perhaps this was incorporated in later models, ours is a 1988, I think I mentioned it. Nope, no hole.
Related to the packing glands, which i agree in principle with the old style, with the new twist of packing material. Maybe that is what we have. All the thru-hulls are bright green verdi gris. None are bonded to anything, many are inoperable, most have never been exercised. Same with engine drain cocks in the cooling system. There must be ten or twenty hidden in both the fresh and sea water circuits. Oh, I did find one place for an anode...a large plug just in front of the thermostat already threaded for an anode but nowhere to put one since it would bash into the thermostat. In the coolant circuit no less. Wrong.
Once i get the fourth bolt out of the engine oil cooler cap, the inaccessible one on the bottom of this vertical cooler, (or I decide to remove the whole cooler body from the engine, I would only need to order 30 or 40 more o-rings to put it back together, but I digress...) I will clean the whole mess up and regain access to the shaft log and get a picture or two...wait I may have some old ones on my phone...
Success! Shaft prop seal, rudder shaft seal, and transmission coupling. Advise away! (Note the strategically placed silicon caulk around the base of the rudder seal housing. Nope. Not working. Fortunately, great care was not taken when first slathered. It peels off nicely.)
I am showing the coupling as this will come into play if I have to remove the shaft. There seems to be a tapered pin that hods the whole boat together, unfortunately not shown in my picture. Is the shaft itself tapered into the coupling? along with the tapered pin and 35 years of corrosion holding it in place? I am familiar with the split coupling used on the Old WillieC, Albin 25 we had. How does this assembly come apart? Hard to tell which end is the smaller, but I haven't really tried. I really don't think a big hammer and drift pin are the correct tools. Maybe some kind of homemade press with a threaded rod?
And Sentoa, yes good advice. We may join, but I like free, too. We have spoken with Dave Allen at NT in Burlington and he was not there in 1988, but has been very helpful, nonetheless. He is on speed dial, but may start blocking my calls if I say too much negative about NT here...did i mention the transmission oil cooler core that cannot be removed without removing the transmission from the engine? Actually it runs into the Yanmar motor mount so it is not specifically a NT flaw. Now the inaccessible oil fill under the pilothouse floor...yeah...
And the plated clamps for the shaft log? Sadly stainless steel had not been available in 1988 and besides, once the rubber deteriorates under the rotting clamps, that will need replacement so just do the whole job at once, after you drill a hole in the rudder...
