I'm having no luck finding a replacement for a leaky tiller seal. The old seal is a handmade rubber grommet which has perished. The 1-3/4" stock pops out of the cockpit floor and is just there as a backup. Boat stores don't seem to stock these cockpit seals, so I guess they're not very common. The closest thing I can find is an axle oil seal. Any suggestions would be great. Cheers!

Hi Silent
Are we talking about a rudder stock seal here?
A photo would help.
gary

Yes Gary, rudder stock but no pipe. Just need a seal between the cockpit and stock. The leaking is getting a bit annoying

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Silent Hunter said..
Yes Gary, rudder stock but no pipe. Just need a seal between the cockpit and stock. The leaking is getting a bit annoying

No solution sorry but just curious about the arrangement where it goes through the bottom of the hull??

G'day Jules. This fitting is just below the cable wheel. Really needs a good clean, but the back pain is hell.

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Silent Hunter said..
G'day Jules. This fitting is just below the cable wheel. Really needs a good clean, but the back pain is hell.

Thanks :)

Assume you can advise the exact yacht manufacturer, model number and year built? A reasonable guess could be a Hunter........shouldn't guess. Hunter have reasonably good details on line but this sort of detail is sometimes lacking. Timber there needs attention as you would be aware.
Aged post here but again details missing
www.sailnet.com/threads/rudder-post-leaks-into-cockpit.151002/
Good article here but presumably not your yacht - could have some good tips.
svviolethour.com/2016/05/03/this-years-haul-out-dropping-the-rudder/
Jefa seem to be doing good rudders globally......
www.pyiinc.com/jefa-rudder/sealing-systems.html
The below image is on line but I couldn't find it at the Jefa site.
Tides might have a suitable nitrile lip seal system?
www.tidesmarine.com.au/rudder-bearings-seals/

Or you could reverse engineer the current seal holder and grommet seal for not much $s?

Thanks r13, the links were very interesting. I finally know now it's called a gaiter. I found some Tides products on eBay, but they're quite expensive. Just trying to find the Jefa ones now.

Or you could reverse engineer the current seal holder and grommet seal for not much $s?
Yeah, I even considered modifying a tank pipe seal found on a farm store. How's that for bespoke?

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Silent Hunter said..
Thanks r13, the links were very interesting. I finally know now it's called a gaiter. I found some Tides products on eBay, but they're quite expensive. Just trying to find the Jefa ones now.

Or you could reverse engineer the current seal holder and grommet seal for not much $s?
Yeah, I even considered modifying a tank pipe seal found on a farm store. How's that for bespoke?

Greato. Yes that sounds very bespoke. Please let us know what you ended up with for our learnings.

This may or may not be useful, but here's how I fixed the rudder shaft leak which is very common on Compass 28/29's as the Delrin upper bearing wears.
A short length of 38mm PVC fits over the 11/2" copper shaft sleeve and a 1 1/2" x 1" lip seal (spring replaced by an o-ring) fits in the top end of the tube, and cable ties hold it together. The lip seal is obscured by the upper cable tie in this photo It's been going strong for about 6 years now.

Cheers, Graeme

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Silent Hunter said..
The closest thing I can find is an axle oil seal. Any suggestions would be great. Cheers!

An oil seal is what sprung to mind when you said 1 3/4".
I llke the oil seal idea, lots of choices and readily available. They just need a mounting plate.
So...
Got a mate with a 3D printer?
It'd be pretty easy to design one and 3d print. Easy because you know your critical dimensions (shaft and oil seal)

This is only a quick roughie, but it is to scale and would work.
Something like this?


ASA is llike ABS, but UV proof. My (mid range) 3d printer can print ABS/ASA. Just dont breathe in the fumes.

That's awesome shaggy! Thanks for going to that much trouble. Yeah, finding a watertight holder is a big problem with an oil seal. Plastic is fine so a 3D printed holder would work. Guess I can wait until the next Aldi special buy. Yeah, I read the fumes are really nasty and cause nausea.

Great fix wongaga. I don't have a pipe but that'd be perfect if there was one. Cheaper the better

I might be mis interpreting the pic, it appears there's a gland arrangement at the hull penetration and a weather seal at the deck level ? For the emergency tiller ? If so perhaps a cap for the deck fitting may work